View of Munich

Italienische Malerei 1740–1889, c. 1761

Afternoon sunlight pours over a town crowded along the banks of a serene, glass-green river that runs through the middle of this horizontal painting. Several buildings cluster to our left on the riverbank close to us. A gateway there opens onto a bridge or walkway that extends back and behind the buildings. Tiny in scale, people stand, sit, or ride singly or in small groups on the dirt road that spans the lower edge of the composition. One man sits on a bench in a fenced-in, grassy enclosure at the lower right, and another man there wears monk’s robes and holds a basket. The land must dip down steeply between the dirt road and riverbank, for a few rooftops nestled in there have chimneys at road level. Houses, churches, and grand structures line the far riverbank and fill in the town beyond. Many of the buildings are white or tan with dark red roofs, though others are brown or gray. Trees and an open green space are tucked among the structures. A pale blue sky with wispy, petal-pink and light tan clouds fills the top half of the composition.
Artist
Italienische Malerei 1740–1889
Date
c. 1761
Type
Painting
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
69.2 × 119.8 cm
Collection
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Licence
Public domain, CC0

Image description

Afternoon sunlight pours over a town crowded along the banks of a serene, glass-green river that runs through the middle of this horizontal painting. Several buildings cluster to our left on the riverbank close to us. A gateway there opens onto a bridge or walkway that extends back and behind the buildings. Tiny in scale, people stand, sit, or ride singly or in small groups on the dirt road that spans the lower edge of the composition. One man sits on a bench in a fenced-in, grassy enclosure at the lower right, and another man there wears monk’s robes and holds a basket. The land must dip down steeply between the dirt road and riverbank, for a few rooftops nestled in there have chimneys at road level. Houses, churches, and grand structures line the far riverbank and fill in the town beyond. Many of the buildings are white or tan with dark red roofs, though others are brown or gray. Trees and an open green space are tucked among the structures. A pale blue sky with wispy, petal-pink and light tan clouds fills the top half of the composition.

Italienische Malerei 1740–1889