Harbor with Roman Ruins, Leonardo Coccorante

Harbor with Roman Ruins, c. 1740–50 Oil on canvas Gift of Mrs. Thomas Balding, 1990 (6015.1) The subjects of Leonardo Coccorante’s landscape paintings range from dramatic, imaginary scenes to topographically correct views of his homeland, Naples, Italy. Invented scenes, like Harbor with Roman Ruins, encouraged artists to stretch their imagination and offered them an opportunity to demonstrate the strength of their creative ability. In this work, whose large scale suggests that it served as a stage set design, Coccorante highlights the magnificence of antiquity with ruins that tower over diminutive figures in the foreground.