The National Inventory of Continental European Paintings


Artist	After Bassano, Francesco, II (Italian painter, 1549-1592)
Previous attributions	Previously attributed to Bassano, Leandro (Italian painter, 1557-1622) Previously attributed to Bassano, Leandro (Italian painter, 1557-1622)
Title	Spring
Alternative/previous titles	Autumn Landscape; Pastoral Figures in a Landscape; Landscape with Herdsman and Milkmaids and Huntsman
Date earliest	possibly about 1575
Date latest	possibly about 1630
Material	oil on canvas
Measurements	109.8 x 137.7 cm
Description	The artist has illustrated the theme of springtime through rural activities and a basket of spring flowers set on the ground. The landscape, with mountains in the distance, recalls the scenery near Bassano del Grappa near Venice, the home town of the Da Ponte, or Bassano, family of artists. An original version by Francesco Bassano the younger (Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna) dates to 1576, in the period when Francesco collaborated closely with his father, Jacopo. This copy was probably produced in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century, perhaps by a Flemish artist.
Subject	landscape; animal (poultry, dog, goat, horse)
Collection	Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery
Current accession number	K2246
Previous accession number(s)	25/1952
Acquisition details	Purchased from Agnew & Sons 1952.
Provenance	Anonymous private collection, before 1952.
Principal publications	Catalogue of Oil Paintings, City Art Gallery, Bristol, Bristol, 1970, p. 133, no. K2246, as Pastoral Figures in a Landscape by Leandro Bassano.
Notes	Alessandro Ballarin, University of Padua, described K2246 as an early copy, contemporary to early seventeenth century, possibly by the hand of a Flemish artist. Another version of the composition was in the Lady Radnor Collection, Longford Castle. Jan Sadeler I, who worked in Venice in the 1590s, made an engraving after the composition (about 1590).
Rights status	Bristol's Museums, Galleries & Archives
Author	Dr Susan Steer