The Tyrolean Joseph Anton Koch developed a classicist style of landscape painting that blends the ideal, heroic landscape with vedute aiming at the faithful reproduction of reality. This major work was executed in 1803, and it is the first of several versions painted by the artist between then and 1815. Noah and his clan are set before a desolate land destroyed by water, with many animals. The spacious landscape with the rainbow surrounded by dark clouds is the dominant motif. In the foreground on the right, a few women look up at the overarching natural phenomenon, regarded as a symbol of God’s renewed covenant with humanity after the Flood.