Italian Landscape 1682 - 1718

Timotheus de Graef created this "Italian Landscape" on a wood panel with oil paints. The smooth surface allows for the painting of fine details, while the wood grain adds texture and depth that interacts with the paint layers, enriching the overall appearance. This panel required careful preparation involving sanding, priming, and often sealing to prevent the wood from absorbing too much oil from the paints. Graef's approach reflects a meticulous working method rooted in long-established workshop traditions, emphasizing careful layering and blending of pigments to achieve subtle tonal gradations and atmospheric effects. But the final effect is one of idealized nature, which disguises all the hard work that went into it. This brings us to the social dimension of the work. The painting may invite us to imagine a pastoral idyll, but it is also a product of labor – from the making of the panel, to the grinding of pigments, to the application of the paint itself. It's a reminder that no image comes into being without someone having to make it.