landscape with bridge with two arches at right and arches and columns in ruins at left; figure reclining on rock in foreground, with standing figure with staff and seated woman with baby; two figures walking across bridge in front of figure on a horse; figure with staff at water's edge near bridge; three figures near ruins

Ruins and Bridge, 1784

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It’s a beautiful day in, and the locals quietly enjoy it. The ruins of grand buildings from the past suggest an industry that no longer appears to be of much interest. There was a ready demand for such scenes in in and around Venice, where Giuseppe Zais painted and drew from about 1725-30 until his death in 1781. Though Zais may have sketched ruins and bridges that he saw in the countryside, here and in many other compositions, he seems to combine his memories of different places to create new fantasy locations, known as "capricci" (caprices), in which the artist presents theater of the imagination.

Details
Title
Ruins and Bridge
Artist Life
1709–1784
Role
Artist
Accession Number
2017.153.1
Provenance
(Julius Bohler, Munich, 1922). Mrs. Earle Kress Williams (née Helen Ruth Moore), New York; to her granddaughter Mrs. Atwood Collins 3d (née Cynthia Mallory Williams), Baltimore
Curator Approved

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landscape with bridge with two arches at right and arches and columns in ruins at left; figure reclining on rock in foreground, with standing figure with staff and seated woman with baby; two figures walking across bridge in front of figure on a horse; figure with staff at water's edge near bridge; three figures near ruins