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| Title | Classical Landscape with Figures and Ruins | |
| Collection | Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle | |
| Artist | Attributed to Allegrain, Etienne (French painter and printmaker, 1644-1736) Previously attributed to Dughet, Jean (French artist, 1614-1679) |
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| Date Earliest | possibly about 1665 | |
| Date Latest | possibly about 1735 | |
| Description | Although larger than most of Allegrain's known works, this painting is typical of his stylised neo-classical technique. The carefully constructed composition reaches back in layers into the distance, connected by the winding perspective of the river through the centre and the paths along its banks. The background hillside is scattered with classical monuments, ruins and rustic buildings, while the foreground is animated with the everday activities of several figures. In contrast to the didacticism of earlier landscapists such as Nicolas Poussin, Allegrain has placed the emphasis on the decorative aspects of the scene and not the moralistic. | |
| Current Accession Number | B.M.338 | |
| Former Accession Number | No. 216; No. 532 | |
| Subject | landscape | |
| Measurements | 122.8 x 170.7 cm cm (estimate) | |
| Material | oil on canvas | |
| Acquisition Details | Bequeathed by the founders John and Joséphine Bowes 1885. | |
| Publications | Conran, E., European Paintings of the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, 1993, p. 26 as Classical Landscape with Figures and Ruins; Conran, E., et al, The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle and London, 1992, p. 49, fig. 4. | |
| Notes | Recorded in John Bowes' catalogue as no. 216, 'A hilly Landscape in Italy. Ruins of a Temple and other Constructions on an eminence. Below is a River with Boats, and in the foreground are Shepherds and Shepherdesses. / Jean Dughet / Brother of Gaspars Poussin / about 1614'. Recorded in the 1877 list of paintings in the Bowes' collection at the rue de Berlin as no. 532, 'Paysage accidenté en Italie: Constructions sur la hauteur Rivière Barques Paysans et Paysannes' by 'Jean Dughet fins(?) de Galford(?) Poussin'. The attribution to Étienne Allegrain was made by Denis Mahon, November 1961. This work is particularly similar to Paysage à la rivière (undated, Musée du Louvre, Paris). |
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| Rights Owner | The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, Co. Durham | |
| Author | Dr Anne L. Cowe | |