Oil on canvas, 49.5cm by 65cm.
The painting is recorded in the 1763 Burghley Inventory in the distinctive hand of Brownlow, 9th Earl of Exeter (1725-1793): ‘the North dressing room … a landscape by Jasper Possen.’
The artist was a pupil of his brother-in-law, Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665) who, despite spending most of his working life in Rome, was considered the leading exponent of the classical French Baroque style.
Gaspard Dughet adopted his name and in time came to be regarded as one of the leading landscape artists of the day in Rome, specialising in painting landscapes in the Roman campagna.
He also painted fresco cycles, of which, one of the most notable was for the Colonna Palace.
