Landscape with Harvesting

Landscape with Harvesting, attributed to Pietro da Cortona but dated much later to 1750, is likely by a follower or later hand working in the tradition associated with his school. If by Cortona's school, it reflects the master's occasional engagement with landscape subjects alongside his primary work in figure painting and architectural decoration. Pietro da Cortona was the supreme master of Roman High Baroque decoration, whose ceiling fresco for the Gran Salone of the Barberini Palace defined the illusionistic ceiling painting that dominated European decorative art for a century. The harvest scene combines figure activity with landscape painting in a manner that draws on both the Cortona school's figure style and the pastoral landscape tradition. The Nationalmuseum in Stockholm holds this work as part of its collection of Italian painting assembled through royal and institutional collecting.

The harvest scene combines figure activity with landscape painting in a manner that draws on both Cortona's figure style and the pastoral landscape tradition. The warm palette and decorative approach reflect the Cortona school's aesthetic values.