An Italianate landscape with travellers and peasants on a path by a river

Recorded in Paris as Peintre du roi from 1644, the exact date for Swanevelt's arrival in the French capital is unknown, but a terminus ante quem is provided by the signature on this picture. Another work, also signed, dated and located to Paris in 1643 is recorded as having been in the collection of Andrea Busiri Vici (photo at the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorisches Dokumentatie, The Hague). Although the two paintings are equal in size, the horizons are on the same level and the scale of the figures is similar, the fact that both are signed and dated in full makes it unlikely that they were intended as pendants.