Peaceful Country
Factual Information:
From: Siena, Italy
Period: 1338-1339
Period: 1338-1339
General Information:
This landscape is one of the first appearances of landscape in Western art since the antiquity. This particular landscape is from a detail of Effects of Good Government in the City and in the Country. The artwork is a reminder in the midst of Italian politics that the best administration is the fair and just administration. This was commissioned by the Sienese government to commemorate an undertaking of the "ordering and reformation of the whole city and countryside of Sienna". In the artwork people are peacefully working and transporting goods into town from the countryside and farms, something the commissioners of the painting considered what the governing of their city was.
Why This Artwork?
This artwork was one of the first examples of landscapes in Italian art since antiquity, making it a unique painting for its time. Also it represents a non religious or ruling function, another rare attribute of a painting of this time. This makes it a painting worthy of note compared to the others.