This small scale work has all the characteristics of Dughet’s latest style, when his handling became less hard-edged and the backgrounds were suffused with a yellowish light. The structure of the landscape owes a great deal to Poussin’s much earlier landscape style, especially the pair of landscapes in the National Gallery, London, which probably date from c1640. The ruins, although convincingly depicted, are probably imaginary, and it is likely that the inconspicuous figures were added by the artist himself.

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