National Galleries of Scotland

This idealised view of Florence recalls the idyllic classical landscapes of Claude and Poussin. The topographical detail was based on drawings made on the spot, but the overall composition, with picnicking figures, was conceived in the artist's studio. Fabre draws your attention from the shaded foreground to the sun-lit river and city, set against a hazy backdrop of snow-capped peaks. In the middle distance by the weir is a fourteenth-century watermill, which was destroyed in the nineteenth century to make way for the Lungarno Vespucci. Beyond is the Palazzo Signoria, and to the left the dome of the cathedral, Santa Maria del Fiore.