Giuseppe DE NITTIS
(Barletta 1846 - Saint-Germain-en-Laye 1884)

Impressione del Vesuvio
oil on canvas
cm 14x24
signed bottom left


 
 

Exhibitions:
1) Dal Vero. Il paesaggio napoletano da Gigante a De Nittis, Turin, Palazzo Cavour, 12 April-21 July 2002.
2) Montagna. Arte, scienza e mito da Dürer a Wharol, Rovereto, MART, 19 December 2003-18 April 2004.
3) Vesuvio in fiamme. Vesuvio a colori, Naples, Palazzo Diego Aragona Pignatelli Cortes, 21 October-19 November 2006.

Bibliography:
1) M. Pittaluga-E. Piceni, De Nittis, Bramante, Milan, 1963, n. 162.
2) P. Dini- G.L. Marini, De Nittis, Allemandi, Turin, 1990, n. 401.
3) Various authors, Dal vero. Il paesaggismo…, catalogue of the exhibition held in Turin, 2002, Allemandi, Turin, n. 68.
4) Various authors, Montagna. Arte…, catalogue of the exhibition held in Rovereto, 2003-2004, Skira, Milan, fig. p. 278.
5) Various authors, Vesuvio in fiamme…, catalogue of the exhibition held in Naples, 2006, Electa Naples, fig. p. 147.
6) M. Moscatiello, Le japonisme de Giuseppe De Nittis, Peter Lang, Berna, 2011, fig. n. 78.


This small panel is one of a large series of studies the artist made of Vesuvius and its eruption in the year 1872. Far from the stifling Parisian ateliers, De Nittis abandoned himself for months to the joy of painting outdoors. Free of financial or commercial worries, he was driven only by passion, though always tempered by his innate good taste. It is perhaps for these reasons that even his simplest sketches retain their particular freshness. This is the case of our Impressione del Vesuvio, which uses three colors: the clear blue of the sky, the light brick-red of the panel applied in a few rapid brushstrokes, and the dark brown of the shadows. With few quick touches the artist was able to recreate the violence and solitude of a spectacle of nature.