Scenes from a Legend

Giovanni Larciani (Master of the Kress Landscapes)

National Gallery of Art

Two pairs of people and a group line a rocky path that stretches away from us in this hilly, horizontal landscape painting. We look slightly down on the path as it travels steeply from the bottom center of the canvas to about the center of the composition. Dark trees and bushes are tucked on top of and between knolls and mounds rising to each side of the path. A pink-stone building with a crenelated walled area and a tower is to the left of center, and a second building is tucked in a shallow valley to the right. The hills pile up as they reach the horizon, which comes almost to the top of the composition. The narrow strip of sky above is muted aqua-blue. The pair of people nearest to us stand close to and facing each other, perhaps holding hands. They both have pale skin and wear voluminous robes. The person on the left has short blond hair and wears cardinal red. The companion wears a black cloak and may wear a turban, but details around the faces and heads of this pair are difficult to make out. A short distance farther along the path is a pair of men wearing gray, hooded monks’ robes. They also have pale skin. The person on the left appears to be cleanshaven and blond, and the man on the right has a beard. The man on the left reaches for the other man’s arm or shoulder, and they face each other. Tiny in scale within the composition, four people by the building with the tower may have pale or brown skin, and they wear clothing painted in tan, pale yellow, and soft red. Two stand facing each other, and one appears to hold a staff. They both gesture or point to a man riding a donkey to our right. Another man hunches over, perhaps pushing or pulling something, close to the building, and a fifth person peeks out an open door there.