Nikolaes Pietersz Berchem was one of the greatest representatives of the Italianate trend in Dutch painting. He worked in a variety of genres, but the dominant element in his work was scenes from pastoral life. Italian Landscape with a Bridge came from the collection of the Duc de Choiseul and was acquired in Paris in 1772. It is one of the finest works of Dutch landscape art. In the 18th century the painting bore the title Morning, which successfully encapsulated its emotional content. On the morning of a hot summer day a group of herdsmen driving their cattle to market offer up a prayer to the Virgin on the way. All the means employed - from the energetic compositional rhythms and aureate warmth, with even the sky sparkling with golden drops of sunlight, through to the painterly technique - reflect an elevated life-affirming attitude to the world. The painting seems like a hymn to sunlight with its power to awaken life.