A Shepherd under a Ruined Arch with the Farnese Hercules

Among the remains of classical architectural ruins sits a solitary herdsman, tending his sheep. With his gaze directed towards a distant landscape, this crouching figure renders the picture a somewhat melancholic mood. To the upper right, a vine has crept up the dilapidated arch, emphasizing the state decay of these monumental edifices. These visual elements add a romantic dimension to the scene, in line with the spirit of the time when the drawing was made. With its references to classical antiquity (such as iconic statue of the Farnese Hercules in the right background), the artist (aptly named Antiquus) targeted an audience of intellectuals who had possibly themselves undertaken a ‘grand tour’ to the sights of Italy.

Johannes Antiquus, a lesser known Dutch artist from the eighteenth century, was born in the Northern city of Groningen, where he was trained as a portrait painter. Around 1732 Antiquus travelled to Paris and then to Florence, where he was employed at the Medici court, before settling in Rome for five years. During his stay in Italy, Antiquus, like his fellow colleagues, would have made extensive study of the classical and renaissance art and architecture.


In this drawing, the artist carefully constructed a fantastic amalgam of architectural and artistic elements that in reality never existed together – a kind of composition also known as a capriccio. This genre became en vogue in the eighteenth century, with Gian Paolo Panini (1691–1756) and Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720–1778) as its most important precursors.

Only a hand full of drawings by Antiquus are known.[1] A second drawing, of a Woman at a Fountain (2003.96), also in the Museum’s collection, shows a similar capriccio, interestingly again featuring the Farnese Hercules.

[1] The Groninger Museum is in possession of the third known capriccio by Antiquus (Capriccio with Classical Ruins, inv. no. 1965-95).