# Study of Clouds over the Roman Campagna

**Pierre Henri de Valenciennes** (French, 1750–1819)  
c. 1782/1785  
oil on paper on cardboard  
overall (paper support): 19 x 32.1 cm (7 1/2 x 12 5/8 in.) overall (paperboard support): 19.6 x 33 cm (7 11/16 x 13 in.) framed: 30.5 x 43.2 x 2.1 cm (12 x 17 x 13/16 in.)

Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1997.23.1. [The museum's record](https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.98872.html).

## About this work

A procession of grey and white clouds sweeps across a vivid blue sky above a thin strip of land, painted quickly in oil on paper. Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes made such sketches outdoors in and around Rome in the early 1780s, and in his treatise on landscape painting of 1800 he urged artists to paint skies directly from nature, working fast because the light changes so quickly. Never meant for exhibition, these studies are now admired for their freshness and look forward to the open-air painting of Corot and the Impressionists.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Pierre Henri de Valenciennes painted this in about 1782/1785, aged about 32. It is now at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

### What you’re looking at

A sliver of land across the bottom of this composition gives way to a procession of puffy gray and white clouds sweeping up across a vivid blue, panoramic sky in this horizontal landscape painting. An area of darker gray beyond the brown land could be a valley, mountain, or shadows from the billowing clouds. About one-fifth of the way up the composition, the horizon glows the faintest peach. The clouds trundle from our left up and to our right. The view is loosely painted, especially in the land.

_Description from the National Gallery of Art._

### How it was made

- **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.

### [Pierre Henri de Valenciennes](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/pierre-henri-de-valenciennes)

French, 1750–1819

Valenciennes was the leading theorist of French historical landscape. During years in Italy in the late 1770s and 1780s he made small oil sketches outdoors, recording the same rooftops or clouds at different times of day, studies he kept in his studio but which are now his most admired work. His treatise of 1800 urged students to paint from nature, and his teaching helped bring about the Prix de Rome for historical landscape, created in 1817.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- The artist was about 32
- Real size: about 7½ × 13 in (19 × 32 cm). The 11 × 14 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 18th century
- Subjects: Italy, Skyscape
- Colour: grey
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1637.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1637/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/study-of-clouds-over-the-roman-campagna-nga-98872).