Capriccio with ruins and figures, oil painting on canvas, early 18th century

Grand landscape with ruins from 1700. Capriccio with ruins and figures, oil painting on canvas, early 18th century, in good condition.

Capriccio is a term coined at the end of the Renaissance and has several meanings with one common point. Capriccio was a movement of the soul, more precisely an excitation of the imagination, which gave rise to various visualizations. From an artistic perspective, there is no doubt that the Capriccio genre developed in the Eternal City in the first decades of the 17th century and was inspired by the ruins of the classical era. 

This canvas is in fact ruined, as the landscape plays a secondary role in the composition. The unidentified ruins here have a suggestive template, meaning they utilize their emotional potential to outline imaginary landscapes. The scene is symbolically observed by a Roman knight, with two beggars sitting on the rubble, as if to emphasize the fall of the classical world. 

The painting has been relined and restored into a new frame; it has undergone restoration and has several added paint layers. The frame is French, from the 19th century. 

The painting is accompanied by a certificate of market approval.

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Empire-style furniture and accessories date from the late 18th to early 19th century. Everything was influenced by Napoleon’s reign, which imposed a strong resemblance and references to Roman and Greek ornamentation.

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