Farm with Trees in a Hilly Landscape

Gherardo Cibo was more botanist than professional artist. The compiler of least five volumes of dried plant specimens collected in the Marches (central-eastern) region of Italy, Cibo made drawings in order to record the habitats where he collected plants. He executed this drawing in the field, annotating, at upper left, the dried cornflower ( concia fior da liso ) he had gathered on the spot. Though Cibo learned to draw landscapes at an early age when he visited Northern Europe, this sheet reveals his knowledge of Florentine and Venetian models.