This pair of paintings depict life in the Italian country during the 18th century. Each is held in a hand carved frame finished in 22K gold leaf.
In the eighteenth century, a brisk trade in painted views of Venice, Rome and the Italian countryside grew up in response to tourists' demands for souvenirs. Canaletto, Bellotto, Guardi and Pannini were at the forefront of production. Italian painters were also commissioned by foreign princes to decorate their palaces. It is a mark of the times that Tiepolo, perhaps the most celebrated Italian painter of the eighteenth century, died in Spain after completing an ambitious mural program for the royal palace in Madrid.
