Bourdon’s rigorously structured classical landscapes, such as this one, were modeled on those of Nicolas Poussin. In this landscape the painter quoted ancient and contemporary works of art. The statue of a horse at the left is a direct citation of one of the statues of the Dioscuri on top of the Quirinal Hill in Rome. The dancers at the right, instead, derive from Poussin’s Bacchanal (now in the National Gallery, London).

Forthcoming

Inscription: Inscribed (left, on monument): U.NE

Earl of Loudon; [Durlacher, New York]; Mrs. Eugene Atwood, Stonington, Conn. (by 1931–d.1942); her daugher (Constance Atwood) and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. R. Kirk Askew Jr., New York (1942–84)

Hartford. Wadsworth Atheneum and Morgan Memorial. "Retrospective Exhibition of Landscape Painting," January 20–February 9, 1931, no. 20 (as "Landscape with Figures," lent by Mrs. Eugene Atwood, Stonington, Connecticut).

New York. Wildenstein & Co., Inc.. "A Loan Exhibition of French Painting in the Time of Louis XIIIth and Louis XIVth," May 9–June 1, 1946, no. 6 (as "Classical Landscape with Figures," lent by Mr. and Mrs. Kirk Askew, Jr.).

Pittsburgh. Carnegie Institute. "French Painting: 1100–1900," October 18–December 2, 1951, no. 59 (as "Classical Landscape with Figures," lent by Mr. and Mrs. R. Kirk Askew, Jr.).

New York. Wildenstein & Co. "Gods & Heroes: Baroque Images of Antiquity," October 30, 1968–January 4, 1969, no. 1 (as "Figures in a Landscape," lent by Mr. and Mrs. R. Kirk Askew, Jr.).

Martigny. Fondation Pierre Gianadda. "The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: Chefs-d'œuvre de la peinture européenne," June 23–November 12, 2006, no. 32.

Barcelona. Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya. "Grandes maestros de la pintura europea de The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nueva York: De El Greco a Cézanne," December 1, 2006–March 4, 2007, no. 26.

Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. "Earth, Sea, and Sky: Nature in Western Art; Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," October 6, 2012–January 4, 2013, no. 2.

Beijing. National Museum of China. "Earth, Sea, and Sky: Nature in Western Art; Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 8–May 9, 2013, no. 2.

Pierre Rosenberg. France in the Golden Age: Seventeenth-century French Paintings in American Collections. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1982, p. 230, under no. 12 [French ed., La peinture française du XVIIe siècle dans les collections américaines, Paris, 1982].

Keith Christiansen in Recent Acquisitions: A Selection, 1985–1986. New York, 1986, pp. 32–33, ill. (color).

Nicholas H. J. Hall in Claude to Corot: The Development of Landscape Painting in France. Exh. cat., Colnaghi. New York, 1990, p. 64, under no. 12.

Katharine Baetjer in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: Chefs-d'œuvre de la peinture européenne. Exh. cat., Fondation Pierre Gianadda. Martigny, 2006, pp. 180–82, no. 32, ill. (color) [Catalan ed., Barcelona, 2006, pp. 100–101, no. 26, ill. (color)].

Peter Barnet and Wendy A. Stein in Earth, Sea, and Sky: Nature in Western Art; Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. [Tokyo], 2012, p. 42, ill. pp. 36, 44 (color).

Keith Christiansen in Earth, Sea, and Sky: Nature in Western Art; Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. [Tokyo], 2012, pp. 206–7, no. 2, ill.