Landscape with River and Boats
XVII century. Oil on canvas.Not on display
A panorama whose exquisitely contrasting colors -in the sky and in the dark green trees- reflect a prodigious mastery of light drawn from knowledge of Venetian techniques and Bolognese aesthetic concepts influenced, in turn, by Domenichino’s work in this field. The canvas expresses the spectacular monumentality of a landscape that contrasts the straightforward aspects of everyday rural life on the banks of a river with a majestic hill topped by colossal classical buildings. The perspective opens to the right, revealing a succession of bridge arches that cross from one bank to the other and a clear horizon punctuated by various hills. The trees in the foreground provide a spatial referent that helps establish the sense of depth. In Perez Sánchez’s opinion, this work clearly reflects Grimaldi’s profound study of works by Domenichino, whose aesthetic principles are determinant in all aspects of this composition painted at a time when Domenichino was at the summit of his expressiveness (Text drawn from Luna, Juan J.: Claudio de Lorena y el ideal clásico de paisaje en el siglo XVII, Museo del Prado, 1984).