A landscape with figures by a stream, herdsmen and cattle beyond

Zuccarelli began his career in Florence where he engraved the frescoes of Andrea del Sarto in SS Annunziata; from there he travelled to Rome, where he studied under Paolo Anesi, before moving to Venice, where he established himself with great success as a painter of landscapes. Avoiding the topographical style of Canaletto, Zuccarelli specialised in freely painted landscapes of the countryside of the Veneto. He attracted the patronage of Consul Joseph Smith, through whose support he travelled to England in 1752, where he continued his career. There, it appears that he painted mainly for the open market, rather than receiving specific commissions, although he did undertake designs for a series of tapestries for Charles Wyndam, 2nd Earl of Egremont, in circa 1752 (Petworth House, West Sussex). Perhaps due to the sale in 1762 of Consul Smith's collection to King George III, he received a royal commission and was unusually allowed to choose his own subject; the work he produced was a Finding of Moses (1768, Royal Collection, Windsor Castle). He was to become a founding member of the royal Academy in the same year, and retired to Florence in 1774.