Landscape with a tree-lined river and a bridge.

Gaspard Dughet (1615-75) was an influential French landscape artist based in Rome, who was inspired by his even more famous brother-in-law, Nicolas Poussin, whose name he adopted, and Claude Lorrain. These three painters sketched together in the countryside around Rome. Dughet followed the older artists' example by using drawings made from nature as a basis for his idealised scenes painted in the studio, or as fresco decorations for Roman palaces. His work differed from theirs, however, since he rarely included historical, biblical or mythological episodes. Many of Dughet's paintings were bought in the 18th century by the British on their Grand Tour of Italy.

This etching comes from a series of four, and effectively conveys the idyllic atmosphere of the Roman 'Campagna' immortalised by Dughet and Claude. It depicts a landscape with a river crossed on the left by a bridge, with three men gathered on the bank in the foreground, one of them fishing.

Sources:

British Museum Collection online, https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1471189&partId=1 &searchText=gaspard+dughet+landscape+bridge&page=1

National Galleries Scotland, 'Gaspard Dughet (Gaspard Poussin)', https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/artists/gaspard-dughet-gaspard-poussin

Dr Mark Stocker   Curator, Historical International Art   March 2019