Landscape of Switzerland
1862. Oil on canvas.On display elsewhere
In 1862, the first year that he enjoyed his landscape scholarship, Rico was in Paris from February until the end of spring. He applied to the Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando for permission to go to Switzerland, which was granted on the 23rd of May. There, he worked in the Oberland for two or three months, under the direction of the landscape painter Alexandre Calame (1810–1864). Having established himself, he painted in the Canton of Geneva, the most south-eastern part of the country. Among the works that he produced, the artist chose this one, due to its importance, for his submission as a first-year scholarship recipient. In fact, the painting is the largest and finest testimony of the few paintings that are known to have been a result of this project.
Rico himself pointed out that he had carried out the painting upon his return to Paris, as was still common practice among landscape painters. They used notes taken from nature to create the final painting in the studio. Indeed, the careful composition, with the core of buildings harmoniously placed on the left, denotes the manner in which the work was carried out. The work highlights the balance that the artist achieves between the vegetation of the dark masses of trees surrounding the buildings and its light areas, placed around the church bell tower.
Barón, Javier, El paisajista Martín Rico (1833-1908), Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2012, p.140-141 n.11
