This splendid early 18th-century classical landscape painting depicts an idyllic coastal view with architectural ruins and figures.Inspired by the romanticised visions of Claude Lorrain (1600-1682), this enchanting survivor transports the viewer into a whimsical fiction of architecture and sublime nature. The atmosphere is one of gentle harmony, whereby man’s finest creations are embedded graciously into the natural world. Earth, water, and air combine with sumptuous results.Pleasing visions of the countryside, particularly the Roman Campagna, were popular with aristocratic young gentlemen seeking to furnish their homes with beautiful objects. The majority of these views were essentially a collage of sketches stitched together for artistic effect. The artists would usually draw amid nature before returning to their workshops to complete their finished compositions.Probably produced in France around 1700, this particular piece is comparable to the oeuvre of French painter, P...