Home Online catalogues True to Nature. Open-air Painting 1780-1870 87. Simon Denis Antwerp 1755 – 1813 Naples View near Naples, c. 1806 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 predilection for decidedly common subjects and unusual points of view. This nondescript hilly landscape has been identified as Gragnano, a village inland from Castellammare to the south of Naples. The iconic Vesuvius occupies a marginal position, relegated to the hazy distance in the far-left background. The lively variety of the painter’s touch creates a sense of freshness and immediacy in his rendering of the wooded countryside and the subtleties of outdoor light.
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 predilection for decidedly common subjects and unusual points of view. This nondescript hilly landscape has been identified as Gragnano, a village inland from Castellammare to the south of Naples. The iconic Vesuvius occupies a marginal position, relegated to the hazy distance in the far-left background. The lively variety of the painter’s touch creates a sense of freshness and immediacy in his rendering of the wooded countryside and the subtleties of outdoor light.