Landscape with Smugglers

Lauded by the experts, this is undoubtedly the most outstanding landscape painted by Eugenio Lucas Velázquez over his long and prolific career. The breathtaking view of the sheer mountains, rising up like powerful giants above the diminutive characters passing along the road, is a wonderful example of Romantic landscape painting that emphasises the forces of nature. Bandits were intriguing to European travelers of the time, and were often used to liven up scenes like these.