- Artist or Maker
- Michael Sweerts
Southern Netherlands, 1618-1664, active Italy and India - Title
- Plague in an Ancient City
- Date Made
- circa 1650-1652
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Canvas: 46 3/4 × 67 1/4 in. (118.75 × 170.8 cm)
Framed: 62 × 84 × 5 in. (157.48 × 213.36 × 12.7 cm)
- Accession Number
- AC1997.10.1
- Collecting Area
- European Painting and Sculpture
- Curatorial Notes
Plague in an Ancient City is Michael Sweert's most ambitious and classical composition. Painted in emulation of the grand style of Nicolas Poussin ( France, 1594-1665), the horrific scene of death and despair acted out with dramatic gestures and expressions incorporates numerous quotations of ancient Roman sculpture. The meaning of the painting remains elusive and has occasionally been interpreted as an allegory redemption.
- Selected Bibliography
- Lehmbeck, Leah, editor. Gifts of European Art from The Ahmanson Foundation. Vol. 3, Dutch Painting, Flemish Painting, Spanish Painting and Sculpture. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2019.
- Humfrey, Peter. "The Collection of Philip John Miles at Leigh Court." Colnaghi Studies Journal 7 (2020): 42-63.
