Albano near Rome was painted by Mikhail Lebedev in 1836. That was one of the artist’s last works created shortly before his death.

The painting represents a picturesque southern landscape in the Romantic style. It offers a view on a small Albano Lake located in the outskirts of Rome. The artist chose a warm palette, with ocher-brown, olive and mustard colors prevailing. In the background there are stretching mountains covered with dark green forests. The opposite bank of Alnano Lake shows through the exuberant crowns of trees. Back there is the Palace of Castel Gandolfo, the Roman Pope’s residence.

In the distance there are few passers-by taking a stroll on a fine summer day. Smartly dressed Italians are relaxing in the shadow of alleys, while a catholic monk is walking along the road.

Mikhail Lebedev was born in the city of Tartu in Estonia in 1811. Estonia had been a part of the Russian Empire since 1721. The artist came from a peasant serf’s family, but gained freedom back in his youth – in the 1820s serfdom was abolished in the Baltics.

Mikhail Lebedev showed the talent as early as in childhood. Count Petr Pahlen heard a lot about the young painter’s gifts and sent him to study in St. Petersburg at government expense. Back there Mikhail entered the Imperial Academy of Arts. He was taught by Maksim Vorobyev, the founder of Russian landscape painting. Mikhail Lebedev received a Major Gold Medal for one of his works, which offered a scholarship to study abroad. So, he left for Italy

When in Rome, Mikhail Lebedev met Karl Brullov, the master of Russian art, who took the young painter under his wing. Mikhail was impressed by the vibrant and riotous colors of Italian nature, so he passionately set to depicting its beauty on his canvases. The young artist had a sad fate. In 1837 he went to Naples and prematurely died as a result of a cholera outbreak. He was only 26.

This painting was commissioned by Count Vladimir Orlov-Davydov. Before the Revolution of 1917 the canvas had been kept in Ussolye Settlement of Shigonsky District, Orlov-Davydov family estate. At present most of Mikhail Lebedev’s works belong to the Tretyakov Galley in Moscow.