Mountainous Landscape with Waterfall and Shepherd Herding Cows and Sheep
- Date
- 1766 or 1767
- Object type
- painting
- Technique
- oil
- Material
- canvas
- Dimensions
- 81,0 x 102,0 cm
- Acquisition date
- 1767
- Location
- The Palace on the Isle - Picture Gallery, ground floor
- Marks and inscriptions
- red number 301 of the Stanisław August collection, bottom left (repeated – partially abrased)
- Place of Origin
- Austria (Europe)
- Owner
- The Royal Łazienki
- Museum number
- ŁKr 904
The painting is a pendant to Mountainous Landscape with Ruins on the Top of Rocks which is signed and dated Rosa f. 1766 … now in the National Museum in Warsaw (inv. no. M.Ob.2457 MNW).
The story of the acquisition of this pair of paintings from Joseph Roos, who was at the time working in Dresden, is well-documented in Roos’ correspondence with Marcello Bacciarelli, … .
The artists probably knew each other from Vienna, where Bacciarelli was working in 1764–66. In January 1767 Roos turned to Bacciarelli, who since at least October 1766 had been back in Warsaw working for the Polish king, with a request for his patronage—he wanted to receive commissions for paintings from the Polish king … . … Roos did receive a commission: in the letter of 22 March 1767 he promised Bacciarelli that the next day he would send two paintings, so that they could be approved by Stanisław August and Bacciarelli, also affirming that they had been on show a few days earlier in the Dresden Akademie der Bildenden Künste and had been received positively. He also suggested a price of 80 ducats for each, indicating that his paintings of similar dimensions had been sold for 100 ducats to buyers in Milan, Vienna and London. … The paintings had already arrived in Warsaw at the beginning of May and were accepted and praised, which Roos heard about in a letter sent from Warsaw on 6 May by Bernardo Bellotto. … Bellotto also informed him that the court in Warsaw intended to commission another two works. … [D. Juszczak, H. Małachowicz, The Stanisław August Collection of Paintings at the Royal Łazienki. Catalogue, Royal Łazienki Museum, Warsaw 2016, no. 89, pp. 331–332.]
