A landscape, possibly Italy

Polydore de Bec (born Augustin Marius Paul Bec) was a landscape painter who was based in Aix-en-Provence, in the South of France. He was trained by two other renowned artists who were based in the area, Jean Antoine Constantin d'Aix and François-Marius Granet.
The success of these artists' compositions was largely due to the technique of sketching en plein air. These impressions were then used as guides when reproducing the scenes on a larger scale in oil in the studio. This resulted in topographically accurate works, which captured the atmosphere of the sublime, such as in the present lot.
This work shows both the power and awe of the natural world, which is exacerbated through the small details of human existence: the inclusion of a faint town in the distance, a building which blends into the cliff-face, as well as a tender scene of everyday life in the foreground. It is this juxtaposition that makes this monumental landscape so multifaceted and poignant.