Heroic Landscape with Watering Place, Riders, and Obelisk

Art Historical Context

Behold the grandeur of *Heroic Landscape with Watering Place, Riders, and Obelisk* (1744), a striking woodcut collaboration between Venetian landscape painter Marco Ricci and master printmaker John Baptist Jackson. Ricci's design evokes the dramatic "heroic" landscapes popular in 18th-century Europe, blending vast vistas, ancient ruins, and an imposing obelisk—symbols of antiquity and timeless power. Riders gather at a watering place amid rugged terrain, capturing a sense of epic journey and classical reverie, reminiscent of capriccios that romanticized ruins. Printed as a large-scale woodcut (16 5/16 x 22 13/16 in.), this work showcases Jackson's innovative chiaroscuro technique, using multiple woodblocks to mimic the tonal depth of oil paintings. Woodcuts were traditionally bold and graphic, but Jackson elevated them to rival engravings, making fine art accessible beyond elite canvases. Produced after Ricci's death in 1730, it reflects the era's fascination with the Grand Tour and rediscovered Roman grandeur. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department, this piece from the Harris Brisbane Dick Fund (1926) invites visitors to ponder how prints democratized heroic visions of nature and history, bridging painting and popular culture in the Enlightenment age.