Oil on canvas, 59 x 69.25cm.
The painting was acquired in 1769 with its pair, PIC132, by Brownlow, 9th Earl of Exeter (1725-1793).
It was purchased for the earl from the Orsetti Collection in Venice, by the dealer and antequarian James Byres for £20.
A later addition to the 1763 Burghley Inventory records: ‘two land skips by Gio. Francesco Bolognese.’
The artist, a draughtsman, architect, print maker and accomplished painter of classical landscape frescoes, trained initially with the Carracci family in his native Bologna.
Later, after moving to Rome, he was appointed architect to Pope Pius V and enjoyed the patronage of several later popes.
He was invited to France, where he worked for both Cardinal Mazarin and Louis XIV, for whom he painted frescoes in the Louvre.
