A draughtsman, painter, engraver, and architect, Isaac de Moucheron was the son and student of Frederik de Moucheron (1633-1686) who became an important influence on his son’s career. At the age of twenty-seven, Isaac left Amsterdam for Italy. In 1695 he was in Bologna, before returning to Rome where he stayed for two years. In 1697 he returned to Amsterdam, where, like his father, he became known for painted landscape wall decorations which he executed for the homes of wealthy patricians.
It is as a draughtsman that Isaac is best known, and his drawings, mostly executed in pen, ink and watercolor, form the majority of his œuvre. His wooded landscapes were in the Northern tradition, much inspired by Jacob van Ruisdael; however, he also specialized in vedute, atmospheric views of the Italian countryside in which parks containing architectural features were the main subject, while often including travelers, shepherds, and fishermen. In these drawings, Moucheron was influenced by Gaspar van Wittel (1652/53-1736) and Gaspard Dughet (1615-1675), whom he had met in Rome.
A comparable drawing by Moucheron, Idyllic Landscape with Figures by a Pool of Water among Trees (signed and dated 1742, pen and brown, grey, green and blue wash, heightened with white, 240 x 345 mm), with a similar composition, was formerly with J. Leegenhoek, Paris.[1]
[1] N. Wedde, Isaac de Moucheron (1667-1744), Frankfurt, 1996. Vol. I, p. 365, cat. W63, and Vol. II, p. 151, pl. 135
