Tuesday, August 5, 2014

The Palace of Donn'Anna (1843)

Jules Coignet: The Palace of Donn'Anna, Naples

This is a classic view of the unfinished palace designed by Cosimo Fanzago for Anna Carafa, wife of a seventeenth-century Spanish viceroy of Naples. With Vesuvius smoldering in the distance, Castel del’Ovo jutting into the bay, and Neapolitan boatmen plying the water, all the elements of the Picturesque are present in this composition. As if to contravene the scene’s sense of timelessness, Coignet incised the location and date into the still-wet paint at lower left, emphasizing the speed with which he completed the painting. [Metropolitan Museum]

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