Detail of Pilgrimage in the Roman Campagna by Navez in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, June 2010

Pilgrimage in the Roman Campagna
1848
François Joseph Navez, Belgian, 1787–1869

Dimensions: 62.9 x 83.5 cm (24 3/4 x 32 7/8 in.)

Medium or Technique: Oil on panel

Classification: Paintings
Type: Genre - Exterior

Accession Number: 1986.152

Navez, a founder of the modern school of painting in Belgium, studied with French neoclassical master Jacques-Louis David in Paris. In 1817 he received a five-year scholarship to travel in Italy, returning to Belgium in 1822. This painting, also known as Visit to the Miraculous Shrine, was executed in 1848 after Navez had been elected director of the Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels. Navez combines a popular Romantic subject -- peasants in exotic costume -- with the polished surfaces and studied gesture and expression learned from his teacher David.

Text from: www.mfa.org/collections/object/pilgrimage-in-the-roman-ca...