Landscape with Staffage

The main motif of Henryk Siemiradzki’s (1843-1909) painting is the idyl, a lazy rest in the shadow of a tree. The protagonists of the picture are a girl and boy absorbed in conversation. The figures portrayed – a rarity for Siemiradzki –are dressed in Italian folk costumes current at the time. The composition is saturated with sunlight and intensive spots of green.
The characteristic landscape with mountains in the background and settlements on expansive hills is reminiscent of views from the Castelli Romani not far from Rome. Siemiradzki’s visit to this region of Italy is documented by drawn sketches and landscape studies; in many of these, the artist included the name of the place where the image was made. One of his favourite places for summer outings was Frascati. Among the many sketches from this place, studies of old, sprawling trees with bent limbs and intertwined trunks are notable.
The free-handed landscape sketch was throughout the 19th century a way of exercising painting skills for artists studying at the academies, in particular focusing on sensitivity to the effects of colour and light. Fragments of Landscape with Figures are of a decorative nature, with flat, colourful spots. An analysis of the painting techniques and texture of the painting conducted as part of conservation work confirm that the composition of the work was carefully though out. The “Impressionistic” effects were carefully developed in the artist’s workshop. The contrasting juxtaposition of composition and framing may indicate that the artist drew in part from a photograph.