Francesco Zuccarelli was born 15 August 1702 in Pitigliano. Zuccarelli was primarily active in Venice, though he also spent long periods in London between 1752 and 1771. He was a founding member of the Royal Academy of Arts in London, and served as its president for a few years. Though primarily a painter, Zuccarelli also produced a vast number of drawings and engravings, as well as a few religious paintings and tapestry designs.
Zuccarelli was one of the most highly acclaimed landscape painters of his day, and in England he was the most famous living Italian painter. Stylistically, Zuccarelli placed more importance on lyricism than on realistic detail, producing soft, tranquil, Arcadian scenes that were immensely popular, and earned him an international reputation. Zuccarelli’s landscape paintings center on the exaltation of rural life as a retreat from the noise of urbanity, and historians consider Zuccarelli to be of interest for his love of escapism, a frequent motif of the late Baroque
References:
“Francesco Zuccarelli.” The National Gallery, London, http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/francesco-zuccarelli
“Francesco Zuccarelli.” Tate Modern, http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/francesco-zuccarelli-621
“Francesco Zuccarelli.” The Getty Museum. http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/artists/606/francesco-zuccarelli-italian-1702-1778/
Levey, Michael (1959). “Francesco Zuccarelli in England”. Italian Studies XVI.
Zampetti, Pietro. “Zuccarelli Francesco” In A Dictionary of Venetian Painters. Vol. 4. 18th Century. F. Lewis: Leigh-on-Sea, 1971.
Landscape with Cattle and Figures, c. 1750-70, oil on canvas. The National Gallery, London.
A Landscape with the Story of Cadmus Killing the Dragon, exhibited 1765, oil on canvas. Tate Modern, London.
Landscape with the Education of Bacchus, 1722, oil on canvas. The Getty Museum, Los Angeles.
Landscape with Shepherds Resting Under a Tree by a Cascade, mid-1700s, Black chalk, pen and brown ink, on paper. The Getty Museum, Los Angeles.
Richard Wilson, Portrait of Francesco Zuccarelli, 1751, oil on canvas. Tate Modern, London.