Paul Pascal. Italian landscape with shepherd and aqueduct. Late XIX century

Landscape with Ciociaria shepherd, the bridge over the Tiber river and the ancient ruins by Paul Pascal (1839-1905).  
Around 1880.

Dimensions with frame: cm 69 x 51

DImensions only painting: cm 56,4 x 38,3

Gouache on paper.
Signed with red letters lower right.

A shepherd, dressed like a Ciociaro, with a typical hat and stick, looks at a river and an ancient bridge or aqueduct in the distance.

The atmosphere of light at dusk and the vastness of the landscape give a reflective tone, the sensation of the centuries that pass leaving historical traces in the nature that nevertheless predominates.
An intimate, lyrical tone, an idea of an idealized Italy, which often in 19th century art translated into imagining a happy country life in contact with nature, but always with a touch of interest in archaeological ruins and interest for traditional and picturesque clothing of the farmers of Lazio and the countryside. And therefore also French painter Paul Pascal, with his virtuous gouache technique, distances himself from his exotic orientalist subjects, and represents the countryside around Rome, however using color combinations and chromatic effects that do not forget the exotic light of his paintings of the East and North Africa.
The theme that runs like a red thread in Paul Pascal's art is travel, as emotion, as surprise, as curiosity.

Biographical notes on painter.

Paul Pascal (1839-1905) was a French painter of landscapes. He studied at the School of Fine Arts in Paris and started his career in Toulouse in the 1870s. He specialized in views of the Orient, which he painted exclusively with gouache, a technique that consists of using watercolors mixed with gum arabic.
He traveled to the Middle East, but also to Italy, where he painted the Mediterranean coast and the mountains. In 1893 he moved to the United States, where he continued to paint landscapes, including scenes with Native Americans. He died in poverty in Washington in 1905. His works are exhibited in several museums in France. 
Between 1867 and 1874, Paul Pascal was also the painting teacher of Elisabeth of Bavaria, known as Sissi, empress of Austria and queen of Hungary. Sissi was passionate about art and had a natural talent for drawing and painting.
In 1867, during a visit to Paris, she met Paul Pascal, who made a good impression on her for his skill and courtesy.  
Sissi hired him as her private master and took him with her to Vienna, where he gave her lessons in gouache painting, his preferred technique.  
Pascal remained in the service of the empress until 1874, when he returned to France.

During this period, Pascal painted several portraits of Sissi, which show her beauty and elegance.  Some of these portraits are preserved in the Schönbrunn castle, the summer residence of the Habsburgs. 

Paul Pascal moved to America in 1893, probably in search of new opportunities and inspirations. In the United States, Pascal devoted himself to the representation of the wilderness and the Native Americans, whom he considered to be in danger of extinction.
Pascal was fascinated by the culture and spirituality of the indigenous peoples, and tried to capture their dignity and their relationship with the environment. 

However, Pascal did not have much commercial and artistic success in America, and lived in conditions of poverty and isolation.  
He died in 1905, leaving behind a vast artistic production, which testifies to his versatility and talent.