Rocca di Papa im Dunst 

Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes captured Rocca di Papa in a haze of oil on paper. Valenciennes was part of a generation of artists who were defining what it meant to be European through landscape painting. The painting focuses on a site just southeast of Rome. It is an atmospheric study, not so much interested in the specificity of place but rather in the generalized effects of light and weather. It encourages us to consider how identity and perception are intertwined. Do we see the landscape for what it is, or for what it means to us? For Valenciennes and his contemporaries, landscape painting was about more than just pretty pictures, it was also about asserting cultural identity and negotiating the relationship between self and the world. The emotional impact of this work rests in its soft focus, inviting a personal and reflective experience.