Home Online catalogues True to Nature. Open-air Painting 1780-1870 73. Jean-Joseph-Xavier Bidauld Carpentras 1758 – 1846 Montmorency Sunrise in an Italian Landscape, 1785-1791 Having arrived in Italy in 1785, Bidauld was a true pioneer of plein air painting and helped establish the sketching routes that were to be used by artists in the decades that followed, making excursions throughout the Roman Campagna, the hill towns of Subiaco, Narni, Civita Castellana, and further south to Naples. He liked to be absorbed in nature, and often favoured remote, silent locations. In this view of a mountainous landscape near Ariccia, the artist has captured the soft glow and hazy atmosphere of the sunrise with minimal means and limited colour range. The sky occupies two thirds of the painting, adding to the sense of expansiveness of this deserted landscape. Decades later, Jean-Achille Benouville, a friend of Corot who spent over two decades in Italy, painted a view from almost the exact same spot (cat. 74), where there was likely an observation post or terrace. The topographical similarities bring out the stylistic differences between the two artists, and helps illustrate one of the most fascinating aspects of the plein air landscape study, as painters could be standing easel to easel before the exact same view and achieve markedly different results.
Having arrived in Italy in 1785, Bidauld was a true pioneer of plein air painting and helped establish the sketching routes that were to be used by artists in the decades that followed, making excursions throughout the Roman Campagna, the hill towns of Subiaco, Narni, Civita Castellana, and further south to Naples. He liked to be absorbed in nature, and often favoured remote, silent locations. In this view of a mountainous landscape near Ariccia, the artist has captured the soft glow and hazy atmosphere of the sunrise with minimal means and limited colour range. The sky occupies two thirds of the painting, adding to the sense of expansiveness of this deserted landscape. Decades later, Jean-Achille Benouville, a friend of Corot who spent over two decades in Italy, painted a view from almost the exact same spot (cat. 74), where there was likely an observation post or terrace. The topographical similarities bring out the stylistic differences between the two artists, and helps illustrate one of the most fascinating aspects of the plein air landscape study, as painters could be standing easel to easel before the exact same view and achieve markedly different results.