Italiaans landschap met ruïne 1792

Jacob Wilhelm Mechau made this Italian Landscape with a Ruin, an etching, at the turn of the nineteenth century. Mechau was German but like many northern European artists he travelled south to Italy to study its celebrated ancient ruins, its light, and the way of life. This image brings together a crumbling aqueduct and a humble dwelling. We see figures resting, perhaps tradesmen meeting on the road. It’s a scene of everyday life in the shadow of the classical past. This was a popular genre. These prints were made for sale to tourists who wanted to take home a piece of the Italian experience. It speaks to a burgeoning tourist industry but also the growing recognition of the Italian landscape as a site of European cultural heritage. Art history helps us to understand the values that shape artistic production and consumption. To learn more, look to archives and collections relating to tourism and the Grand Tour, together with histories of landscape art and its markets.