An Italian Landscape by Jules-César-Denis van Loo

Jules-César-Denis van Loo (1743–1821) was the son of the famous painter Carle van Loo (1705–1765), the best-known member of the van Loo dynasty. In 1767, Jules-César-Denis was admitted, as a favour, to the Grand Prix de Rome competition and given accommodation at the Académie de France. He was admitted to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in 1784 and exhibited at the Salons between 1784 and 1817. He specialised in snowy winter landscapes, but also produced a few landscapes of the Roman countryside.

The Musée des Augustins in Toulouse holds five such views that once belonged to Cardinal François-Joachim de Pierres de Bernis, the last Archbishop of Albi and French Ambassador to the Holy See from 1774 to 1794. The works came from his château at Saint-Marcel-d’Ardèche and were seized in 1792 after he was officially placed on the list of émigrés for having welcomed Louis XV’s two daughters, Adélaïde and Victoire, to Rome. Joachim de Pierres de Bernis belonged to a different branch of the family from that of the Marquis de Pierre, though the two were related.

César van Loo’s style therefore enjoyed a certain degree of success amongst^18th-century art lovers. The landscapes are inspired by the Dutch manner, with a highly descriptive realism. However, the emphasis on a slightly blurred atmosphere, achieved through a more ethereal brushstroke in the backgrounds, serves to contrast with the sharpness of the structures and the meticulous detail, particularly in the depiction of tree foliage and architecture. Through his exploration of the play of light at sunset, César van Loo responded to a taste for more poetic representations of the landscape, which developed in the^19th century.