Muleteers halting on a mountain pass in the Roman Campagna

The present picture depicts the Roman Campagna in threatening weather. As pointed out by W. Loos, On Country Roads and Fields, 1997, p.372. This is characteristic of Voogd's later works as is evident in the Landscape, signed and dated, 1817, in the Museo Civico, Bassano (C.J. de Bruyn Kops, op. cit., p.362, n06, fig.45). A romantic mood replaces the somewhat cooler atmosphere. The present unpublished picture, from 1809, marks the start of this new development. Cattle is now given a more prominent place, and were frequently repeated, for instance in the picture of 1822, offered at Lempertz, Cologne, 18 November 1965, lot 558 (C.J. de Bruyn Kops, op. cit., p.364, n08, fig.47).