Landscape with Farmers and Woodsmen Possibly 1723 - 1730
marcoricci
minneapolisinstituteofart
print, etching
landscape illustration sketch
light pencil work
pen sketch
etching
pencil sketch
personal sketchbook
ink drawing experimentation
pen-ink sketch
pen work
sketchbook drawing
italy
sketchbook art
Marco Ricci’s *Landscape with Farmers and Woodsmen* (ca. 1723-1730), a detailed etching housed at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, is a testament to the artist’s mastery of the landscape genre. The artwork depicts a rural scene with a group of farmers and woodsmen engaged in their daily tasks. The figures, rendered with precision, are dwarfed by the imposing trees and rolling hills that dominate the composition. The play of light and shadow creates a sense of depth and atmosphere, highlighting the details of the scene and emphasizing the natural world. The etching is a stunning example of Ricci’s artistic skill, capturing the beauty and tranquility of the countryside with remarkable clarity.
Comments
Marco Ricci’s itinerant career makes it difficult to place him into a single school of art. While training in Venice with his uncle, Sebastiano Ricci, another important painter, in the 1690s, young Marco murdered a gondolier in a bar fight and fled to Dalmatia. Later he worked in Milan, Florence, Rome, the Netherlands, and England, before returning to Venice some twenty years later, in 1716. Back in Venice, he forged a successful career as a stage set designer, landscape painter, and etcher. Here, Ricci depicts farmers gathering fruit and woodsmen transporting logs in a resplendent forest. To evoke the dappled bright light of a summer day, he utilizes the white of the page, illuminating passages of the tree trunks and ground throughout. His novel combination of realism and theatricality made him a popular and influential artist.
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