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Lithographic print of painting by Francesco Zuccarelli entitled Landscape with Europa and the Bull, originally painted c.1740</br>Bought by George III, King of the United Kingdom (1738-1820), with the collection of Consul Joseph Smith.Oil on copper. Probably commissioned by Joseph Smith, this small piece is one of the finest examples of Zuccarelli's work in the Smith collection. The feminine content gives rise to the idea that the painting may have been intended for the apartments occupied by Smith's wife in the Palazzo Balbi on the Grand Canal Venice. The Rape of Europa, as told in Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book 11, tells of Jupiter falling in love with Europa and abducting her in the form of a Bull. The drama of Ovid's tale is ignored by Zuccarelli who concentrates on a gentle pastoral scene of a bull being decorated with garlands of flowers. Europa can be seen only in the distance carried away by the bull led by Cupid.</br>Print size inches: 6.7 x 9.3