Landschap met tempelruïne 1613 - 1695

Nicolas Perelle created this print of a landscape with a ruined temple in the seventeenth century. The Italian landscape was a popular theme for Northern European artists at this time. It evokes a sense of the past and the transience of human achievement. The ruins also conjure up the idea of the classical world, a concept closely tied to the establishment of Europe’s art institutions and academies during this period. We might ask: What did the classical world represent to those who founded institutions like the Royal Academy? What did it mean to artists like Perelle? Was it about the aesthetic principles of classical art or the historical idea of empire? To answer questions like these, historians need to delve into period sources like travel journals, architectural treatises, and the records of artistic academies. Art only gains a richer meaning when we situate it in its social and institutional context.