Home Online catalogues True to Nature. Open-air Painting 1780-1870 VI. Volcanoes and the Bay of Naples 84. Jean-Joseph-Xavier Bidauld Carpentras 1758 – 1846 Montmorency Nestled in the hills on the road between Nocera and Salerno, the town of Cava de’ Tirreni (formerly known as La Cava) had long attracted painters working around Naples. Bidauld made several studies in the region, and clearly delighted in the motif of the sixteenth-century bridge of San Francesco (…) 85. Thomas Jones Trefonnen, Powys 1742 – 1803 Pencerrig, Powys The Welshman Thomas Jones was known in his lifetime as a painter of classicizing landscapes in the style of his teacher Richard Wilson (cat. 1). He was rescued from relative obscurity in the 1950s by the publication of his Memoirs and the appearance on the art market of a group of astonishingly (…) 86. Thomas Jones Trefonnen, Powys 1742 – 1803 Pencerrig, Powys Never intended for exhibition or sale, the oil sketches of Thomas Jones remained with the artist’s descendants until 1954, when a group of them came to auction in London. The group included this view near Naples, which was added to the collection of The Fitzwilliam Museum that very year. Painted (…) 87. Simon Denis Antwerp 1755 – 1813 Naples Having moved to Naples around 1801-03, Simon Denis was appointed court painter to Joachim Murat, King of Naples, in 1808 and spent the rest of his life in the city. His official commissions consisted mostly of monumental views of the Neapolitan landscape. In his oil sketches however, Denis had a (…) 88. Christian Johannes Wilberg Havelberg 1839 – 1882 Paris Considered an innovator of German panorama painting, Wilberg worked as a house painter in his hometown before moving to Berlin in 1861 to begin his artistic training with Eduard Pape (cat. 154). He first visited Italy in 1872/73 and returned several times throughout the decade, travelling to (…) 89. Giuseppe de Nittis Barletta 1846 – 1884 Saint-Germain-en-Laye Between 1871-72, the Italian painter Giuseppe de Nittis became an obsessive chronicler of Vesuvius and the “wild beauty”1 of its landscape. Every day for almost a year, the artist made a six-hour round trip up the mountain, and he produced a group of around 70 small-format plein air studies in (…) 90. Johan Christian Clausen Dahl Bergen 1788 – 1857 Dresden Painted over five decades before Wilberg’s view (cat. 88), the modernity of Dahl’s Vesuvius in eruption is striking. Dahl arrived in Naples in August 1820 at the invitation of the Crown Prince Christian Frederik of Denmark, a longstanding friend and patron. He painted this view from the prince’s (…) 91. Jean-Charles Rémond Paris 1795 – 1875 Paris As part of a commission from the Museum of Natural History in Paris, the landscape painter Jean-Charles-Joseph Rémond was tasked with creating a large mural of Stromboli, the most continually active volcano in Italy. In the summer of 1842, he undertook a research trip to Sicily and the Aeolian (…) 92. Anicet Charles Gabriel Lemonnier Rouen 1743 – 1824 Paris The eruption of Vesuvius at the beginning of August 1779 was one of the most devastating of the eighteenth century. Contemporary accounts describe a “fountain of liquid transparent fire”,1 as well as the heat, noise, stench of sulphur, and ever-changing colours of the smoke that accompanied the (…) 93. Louis Léopold Robert Les Eplatures, Neuchâtel 1794 – 1835 Venice The Swiss painter Léopold Robert was a pupil of David, and lived in Italy from 1818 until his death in 1835. He travelled all around the country and made a name for himself painting colourful scenes of brigands and Italian peasant life. During a visit to Naples in 1821, he captured this delicate (…) 94. Edgar Degas Paris 1834 – 1917 Paris Degas was the only Impressionist painter to make the conventional trip to Italy in his youth. During his three years in the country between 1856-59, he made a small group of plein air landscapes, many of them in Naples. His paternal grandfather had established himself there as a banker after (…) 95. André Giroux Paris 1801 – 1879 Paris The first archaeological excavations at Pompeii in 1748 captured the imagination of artists and travellers, and heightened awareness of the destructive power of Vesuvius. In this study by Giroux, however, the luminous silhouette of the volcano appears far from menacing. The strong symmetry and (…)
Home Online catalogues True to Nature. Open-air Painting 1780-1870 VI. Volcanoes and the Bay of Naples 84. Jean-Joseph-Xavier Bidauld Carpentras 1758 – 1846 Montmorency Nestled in the hills on the road between Nocera and Salerno, the town of Cava de’ Tirreni (formerly known as La Cava) had long attracted painters working around Naples. Bidauld made several studies in the region, and clearly delighted in the motif of the sixteenth-century bridge of San Francesco (…) 85. Thomas Jones Trefonnen, Powys 1742 – 1803 Pencerrig, Powys The Welshman Thomas Jones was known in his lifetime as a painter of classicizing landscapes in the style of his teacher Richard Wilson (cat. 1). He was rescued from relative obscurity in the 1950s by the publication of his Memoirs and the appearance on the art market of a group of astonishingly (…) 86. Thomas Jones Trefonnen, Powys 1742 – 1803 Pencerrig, Powys Never intended for exhibition or sale, the oil sketches of Thomas Jones remained with the artist’s descendants until 1954, when a group of them came to auction in London. The group included this view near Naples, which was added to the collection of The Fitzwilliam Museum that very year. Painted (…) 87. Simon Denis Antwerp 1755 – 1813 Naples Having moved to Naples around 1801-03, Simon Denis was appointed court painter to Joachim Murat, King of Naples, in 1808 and spent the rest of his life in the city. His official commissions consisted mostly of monumental views of the Neapolitan landscape. In his oil sketches however, Denis had a (…) 88. Christian Johannes Wilberg Havelberg 1839 – 1882 Paris Considered an innovator of German panorama painting, Wilberg worked as a house painter in his hometown before moving to Berlin in 1861 to begin his artistic training with Eduard Pape (cat. 154). He first visited Italy in 1872/73 and returned several times throughout the decade, travelling to (…) 89. Giuseppe de Nittis Barletta 1846 – 1884 Saint-Germain-en-Laye Between 1871-72, the Italian painter Giuseppe de Nittis became an obsessive chronicler of Vesuvius and the “wild beauty”1 of its landscape. Every day for almost a year, the artist made a six-hour round trip up the mountain, and he produced a group of around 70 small-format plein air studies in (…) 90. Johan Christian Clausen Dahl Bergen 1788 – 1857 Dresden Painted over five decades before Wilberg’s view (cat. 88), the modernity of Dahl’s Vesuvius in eruption is striking. Dahl arrived in Naples in August 1820 at the invitation of the Crown Prince Christian Frederik of Denmark, a longstanding friend and patron. He painted this view from the prince’s (…) 91. Jean-Charles Rémond Paris 1795 – 1875 Paris As part of a commission from the Museum of Natural History in Paris, the landscape painter Jean-Charles-Joseph Rémond was tasked with creating a large mural of Stromboli, the most continually active volcano in Italy. In the summer of 1842, he undertook a research trip to Sicily and the Aeolian (…) 92. Anicet Charles Gabriel Lemonnier Rouen 1743 – 1824 Paris The eruption of Vesuvius at the beginning of August 1779 was one of the most devastating of the eighteenth century. Contemporary accounts describe a “fountain of liquid transparent fire”,1 as well as the heat, noise, stench of sulphur, and ever-changing colours of the smoke that accompanied the (…) 93. Louis Léopold Robert Les Eplatures, Neuchâtel 1794 – 1835 Venice The Swiss painter Léopold Robert was a pupil of David, and lived in Italy from 1818 until his death in 1835. He travelled all around the country and made a name for himself painting colourful scenes of brigands and Italian peasant life. During a visit to Naples in 1821, he captured this delicate (…) 94. Edgar Degas Paris 1834 – 1917 Paris Degas was the only Impressionist painter to make the conventional trip to Italy in his youth. During his three years in the country between 1856-59, he made a small group of plein air landscapes, many of them in Naples. His paternal grandfather had established himself there as a banker after (…) 95. André Giroux Paris 1801 – 1879 Paris The first archaeological excavations at Pompeii in 1748 captured the imagination of artists and travellers, and heightened awareness of the destructive power of Vesuvius. In this study by Giroux, however, the luminous silhouette of the volcano appears far from menacing. The strong symmetry and (…)