Landscape with Shepherds and Flock

Although Faistenberger's "Landscape with Shepherds and Flock" shows no southern landscape with temples, ruins, accessory figures in ancient dress, or scenes from history, mythology or Christian tradition, he does draw on the compositional principles of the Italian ideal landscape, as traditionally initiated by Annibale Carracci. On the one hand, Carracci follows the 16th-century Venetian painting practised by artists such as Giorgione (1477/1478–1510), Titian (1488/1490–1576) or Paris Bordone (1500–1571); on the other, he was open to the style of the Dutch painters active in Rome around 1600, such as Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568–1625) or Paul Bril (1553/54–1626). Characteristic features include a broad landscape, a river course, distant mountains in a bluish shimmer, groups of figures, and sunshine reflected in a cloudy sky. The foreground is often like a stage-set, framed by trees, rocky massifs, ruins or similar elements.
In Faistenberger's painting, the walled hamlet replaces the classical architectural ensemble customary in ideal landscapes. Groups of full-crowned trees rendered in delicate, slightly muted hues provide accents in the fore- and middle-ground. In the centre, the shepherds and boatmen are slightly reminiscent of Salvator Rosa's figures. Thus the small-format painting displays elements suggesting a date in the final decade of the 17th century.

Translated catalogue text from:
Habersatter Thomas: Österreichische Barocklandschaften 1600 – 1800. In: Thomas Habersatter, Ducke Astrid (Hrsg.): Natur wird Bild. Österreichische Barocklandschaften. Residenzgalerie Salzburg. Salzburg 2021, S. 41-93, Anton Faistenberger, Landschaft mit Hirten und Herde, S. 49, Abb. 14, S. 51
Translation: Gail Schamberger MA, Salzburg