Louis François Cassas (1756-1827) Arcadian Landscape

Louis François CASSAS
(Azay-le-Ferron 1756 - Versailles 1827)
Arcadian landscape
Watercolor on black stone lines Paper mounted on cardboard
H. 91 cm; L. 58.5 cm
around 1782

Related work: - Composition incorporating a large part of our work, kept at the Albertina Museum, Vienna, Inv. 15353

Cassas spent his first years of training in the Parisian residence of the Duke of Rohan Chabot where a drawing school had been founded. Although the lessons of Vernet, Vien, Lagrenée and Leprince were valuable to him, it was his stay in Italy from 1779 to 1783 which had the most influence on his career. In Rome and Campania, Cassas showed a growing interest in ancient sites and monuments. His gifts for drawing were exceptional and he worked constantly, traveling through Italy, Greece and Dalmatia. A little later he accompanied the Count of Choiseul-Gouffier to Constantinople, and for four years traveled throughout the Near East and Asia Minor, cataloging all the classical sites. At the beginning of the 19th century, he used his drawings to create books about his travels. His career remains closely linked to the rediscovery of ancient civilizations and his drawings, books and engravings are also unique testimonies to this era.

Our large watercolor evokes Lebanon and the beautiful region of Dalmatia. Although certainly imaginary, this highly vertical view is known from another version with significant variations, kept at the Albertina Museum in Vienna. The composition, closed by a foreground of large trees whose trunks let us imagine the height, then opens slightly onto a river or a mountain lake. Above, the mountain imposes itself, dry, strong, unfurling its mass to the top of the leaf. This mountain is not present on the Albertina watercolor.