Gustave Caillebotte
, French, 1848-1894
Title
Banks of a Canal, near NaplesDatec.1872
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions
39.7 × 59.7 cm
Signedlower right: G. Caillebotte
Credit LinePurchased, 2008
Object numberNGI.2008.90
DescriptionCaillebotte exhibited at the Impressionist exhibitions and was an important patron and collector of Impressionist art. He is thought to have painted this picture during a visit to Italy in 1872 or when he visited the Italian painter Giuseppe de Nittis at Portici in the autumn of 1875. The painting is of a canal and pathway extending into the distant horizon of a flat landscape. The horizon line is dotted with the forms of buildings and trees.
The composition is unconventional in terms of the Academic rules of picture construction. By cutting the scene at the canvas edges and by giving visual prominence to the stone posts in the foreground, Caillebotte presents a view that appears incidental and curiously modern. It is often said that his interest in such apparently random viewpoints may have been informed by contemporary developments in photography. The palette of green, blue, brown and grey conveys a sense of stillness and clarity and serves to heighten the ‘realism’ of the scene. Caillebotte’s artistic preoccupation with spatial recession is evident in this early work. It later found expression in his paintings of Parisian boulevards and apartment interiors such as The Floor-Scrapers (1875; Musée d’Orsay, Paris).
March 2016
ProvenanceAmbroise Vollard, Paris; Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 30 October 1940, lot 67; Palais Galliéra, Paris, 18 June 1962, lot 65; Palais Galliéra, Paris, 4 December 1971, lot 69; Christie's, New York, 12 November 1985, lot 41; Private Collection, San Diego; purchased at Christie's, New York, 7 May 2008, Impressionist and Modern, Day Sale, lot 317. Exhibition HistoryMonet to Matisse: A Century of Art in France from Southern California Collections, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, June-August 1991
The Unknown Impressionist, Royal Academy of Arts, London, March-June, 1996
Personal Views: Regarding Private Collections in San Diego, San Diego Museum of Art, October 2006 - January 2007
Lines of Vision. Irish Writers at the National Gallery of Ireland, 8 October 2014 —12 April 2015
Label TextCaillebotte exhibited with the Impressionists and was also an important patron of Impressionist art. He painted this picture during a visit to Italy. It depicts a canal extending into the distance of a flat landscape. The horizon line is dotted with the forms of buildings and trees. Caillebotte’s fascination with unusual viewpoints and spatial recession is evident in this early work. His preoccupation with perspective later found expression in large-scale paintings of Parisian boulevards and apartment interiors.