Artwork preview

Scenes from a Legend

Giovanni Larciani (Master of the Kress Landscapes)

National Gallery of Art

A person walks across a rocky path with a fortified, wall-enclosed town in the distance in this horizontal painting. The person wears a dark green robe and pink hood or cap, carries a yellow sack slung over one shoulder, and uses a walking stick. Boulders surge to either side of the path, and leafy green trees grow up the right side of the composition. Several swans float on a lake just beyond the trees. Painted in shades of gray, a person rides a camel just beyond a boulder to the left. Other forms painted with thin strokes of red or black could be people walking through the landscape in the distance. A city gate, the walls, and some of the buildings have crenelations. Trees nestle between hills that roll back to hazy, sage-green mountains along the horizon, which almost reaches the top edge of the painting. The sky above is muted blue.

Artwork Details

Date
probably c. 1515/1520
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
17310 × 11278 px
Public Domain
Yes
Museum Record
View original
Palette