Giuseppe Casciaro
(Ortelle 1863 - 1945 Naples)

An Arbour
1881

SOLD / VERKAUFT

Signed lower left GCasciaro / [...]87
Inscribed on the verso Giuseppe / Casciaro / Napoli...

Provenance:
Giuseppe Casciaro Estate
Heirs of Giuseppe Casciaro

Giuseppe Casciaro's[1] early work was influenced by Giacinto Gigante. He later turned from his early Romanticism to Impressionism. Other formative influences were Edgar Degas, Giuseppe de Nittis and the artists of the Barbizon School. Throughout his career he championed the notion that atmosphere constitutes the true substance of a painting.[2] He studied at the Istituto di Belle Arti in Naples under Domenico Morelli (1823-1901), Stanislao Lista (1824-908) and Filippo Palizzi (1818-1899).

He was in contact with the circle of artists close to Francesco Paolo Michetti (1851-1929) in 1885. Among his friends were Gaetano Esposito (1858-1911) and Attilio Pratella (1856-1949). Moving to Vomero from Naples in 1890, he, Pratella and other artists formed an artistic alliance. The major focus of the group's work lay in plein-air painting. He was frequently in Paris in the years 1892-6, staging a one-man exhibition of his work. Here he came into contact with Giuseppe de Nittis. Michetti gave him instruction in pastel techniques which he deployed with great virtuosity in his drawings of Naples and southern Italy. His handling of landscape subjects in pastel led to a new evaluation of the medium. In 1902 he was appointed a professor at the Naples Academy.

This detailed view of an arbour was painted on panel. Casciaro chose to leave the pale tone of the panel visible rather than using white heightening. Vibrant effects of light are achieved by allowing the polished surface of the wood to shimmer and gleam. The technique was current in Italian art at the time and was practised by the Macchiaioli [lit. spotmakers], a group of young plein-air painters working in Florence in the 1860s.

[1] For further reading, see Alfredo Schettini, La pittura napoletana dell'Ottocento, II, Naples 1967, pp.443-63. Saur, Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon. Die Bildenden Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker, Munich 1991 ff.

[2] L'atmosfera è il vero soggetto del quadro: Schettini, op.cit., p. 444.