Jakob Philipp Hackert, the eldest and most famous of five artist brothers, studied with father, Philipp. In 1758 he trained at the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin; in 1765-8 he visited Paris, where he met Claude Joseph Vernet (1714-89). In 1768 Hackert travelled to Italy, where he remained for the rest of his career, apart from a study tour to Switzerland in 1778; in Italy he became court painter to Ferdinand IV (1751-1825) in Naples and a friend of Goethe. Revolution of 1799 forced him to leave Naples and settle near Florence. The Royal Collection contains four signed landscapes by Hackert (RCIN 403559-60, 406121 and 406343), all recorded during the 19th Century but none with a secure provenance.

This is one of a pair of landscapes (RCIN 403559-60), each first described in 1805 as simple ‘Hackart, A Landscape’ and only subsequently called ‘Landscape in Switzerland’. Both are signed, but RCIN 403560 is inscribed with a place and date - Vaucluse, 1769. This would suggest that both depict (or recall) the mountainous landscape of Southern France, which Hackert and his friend, Johann Gottleib, must have passed through on their way from Paris to Italy (they arrived in Rome on 18th December 1768). The style and motif of both is certainly in keeping with other signed works of this date, like his Landscape with Washerwomen of 1768 (Glasgow Museums).

The ideal and picturesque style of this landscape reflects Hackert's contact in Paris with Vernet and finds parallels in the landscapes of a favourite artist of George III - Francesco Zuccarelli (1702-88). Two hunters with guns and dogs converse with fisherman in landscape. To their left, group of two women, two girls and man sit on river bank eating. On far bank, a mill and men can be seen by tree from which hangs net.

Signed: Jac: Philipp, Hackert, pinx: