Giuseppe de Nittis
(Barletta 1846 - 1884 St.-Germain-en-Laye)

The Gulf of Naples with Mount Vesuvius in the Background
1865-6

Oil on panel
10 x 18 cm
SOLD

Signed lower right and bearing a dedication M. Leloir / ... .Nittis
On the verso stamped 3788 in blue and branded Napoli / *E.G.*

Provenance:
Sommaruga collection, Paris
Carlo Camera, Milan
Galerie Carini, Milan

Literature:
E. Piceni, De Nittis, Milan 1955, p.169
M. Pittaluga and E. Piceni, De Nittis, Milan 1963, no. 287
P. Dini and G. L. Marini, De Nittis, Turin 1990, p.378, no. 93, repr. and listed as 'Marina napoletana all' alba con scogli' .

This delicate plein-air study by Giuseppe de Nittis in miniature format is dated by Piero Dini and Giuseppe Marini, the authors of the De Nittis catalogue raisonné, to the period 1865-6.[1] It was in this period that De Nittis produced a large body of oil sketches of Naples and its surrounding countryside. Executed on an unprimed panel, possibly part of a former cigar box, the study displays De Nittis's skill in achieving the maximum painterly effect with great economy of means. He uses a reduced palette in shades of white, blue and umber. He applies paint sparingly but with the spontaneity and fluidity characteristic of plein-air painting, creating areas of transparency that allow the ochre ground of the wood to show through. The appeal of the present study lies in its immediacy. It testifies to De Nittis's extraordinary virtuosity in capturing a momentary mood and the fleeting quality of light. The work has less in common with French Impressionism than with that variety of realism practised by the group of young plein-air painters known as the Macchiaioli ['spotmakers']. The realistic capturing of light effects and the primacy of colour over form are clearly De Nittis's central preoccupations. Motifs such as water surfaces - as in the present study - and street scenes, hazy meadows, dusty roads and similar subjects predominate in the oil studies of this period of De Nittis's career.

The inscription M. Leloir above the signature is in De Nittis's own hand. It can be surmised from this that the small-format study was a gift from the artist - justifiably satisfied with the results of his work - dedicated to his friend, the painter and illustrator Maurice Leloir.

De Nittis is the best-known Apulian painter of the nineteenth century. He returned frequently to the region of his birth. He took up his studies at the Istituto di Belle Arti in Naples but early on abandoned the academic tradition of his training and turned to plein-air painting. He moved to Paris in 1868 and quickly made his name in artistic and literary circles. The outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 prolonged his visit to Italy and he did not return to Paris until 1873. Soon after his return, he participated in the first exhibition of 'impressionist' painting organized by Nadar in 1874. In London his reputation flourished, like that of his contemporary, James Tissot. He was appointed a member of the Légion d'honneur during the 1878 Paris World Exhibition at the height of his fame. He was an influential figure in the world of art and letters and his Parisian residence was a popular meeting-place for leading French and Italian artists and writers like Degas, Manet, Daudet and Zola.[2] His widow donated a large body of work from his estate to the museum in Barletta in 1913.