Ancient painting, architectural view, tempera on canvas, 18th century.

Tempera on canvas. This work is related to the work of Pietro Paltronieri, known as Mirandolese (from Mirandola in Emilia-Romagna). In 18th century Bologna, there was a widespread taste for landscapes with ruins: there was a significant production of canvases in which architectural capricci, manipulated in classical styles, were inserted into landscapes and rural or coastal views, expressing a unique decorative sensitivity inspired by theatre. Collaboration between figure painters and set designers was also common. Among them was Pietro Paltronieri, known as Mirandolese, who exerted a sort of dominance over his colleagues. Paltronieri worked in Bologna, and this work comes from a private collection in that city. It depicts a group of ruins, with the remnants of a colonnade and an apse rising in the centre of the foreground, perhaps the ruins of a church. Among these ruins are several figures: in the foreground, a woman with a child, other common people, and a few soldiers in the background. It would be ideal as a backdrop for a theatrical performance or, at the very least, as wall decoration in a private setting used for public relations. The canvas, previously restored and re-stretched, shows several losses of pictorial material. It is presented in an old frame.