Provenance
Collection of the artist; possibly sold in his estate sale, Sotheby’s, London, June 29–30, 1829, as one of, lot 62, “View in the Environs of Florence”, to Catley for £8.18.0, lot 103, “View in the Gardens of Boboli at Florence”, to Tiffin for £7; or lot 213, “Environs of Florence”, to Glynn for £32.11.0 [buyers and prices according to an annotated copy of the sale catalogue in the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague]. Possibly H. Gritten, London; his sale, Phillip’s, London, March 13, 1835, lot 104 as “A glowing unfinished Landscape with Ruins, with peacock in the foreground” for £29.11.6 [price according to an annotated copy of the sale catalogue in the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague]. G. Arnot, 1939 [according to the mount of a photograph in the Witt Library, London]. Arthur Morrison (died 1945), London, by 1940 [see Shirley 1940]; his estate sale, Sotheby’s, London, March 19, 1946, lot 128 for £185 to Roland [price and buyer according to a sale catalogue in the Ryerson Library, Art Institute of Chicago]; Roland, Browse and Delbanco, London, 1946 [this and the succeeding according to the mount of a photograph of the painting in the Witt Library, London]. Peto. Included in anonymous sale Christie’s, London, April 12, 1991, lot 57, bought in. Sold Christie’s, London, November 15, 1991, lot 70 to Richard L. Feigen & Co.; Richard L. Feigen & Co., New York; sold to Carol and Joel Honigberg, Highland Park, Illinois, 2005; gift of Carol and Joel Honigberg to the Art Institute, 2005.
Accession Number
185775
Medium
Oil on millboard, mounted on canvas
Dimensions
43.1 × 58.4 cm (17 × 23 in.); Framed: 60.4 × 76.2 cm (23 3/4 × 30 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Gift of Carol and Joel Honigberg
Background & Context
Background Story
Richard Parkes Boningtons View on the Grounds of a Villa near Florence from 1826 is an oil on millboard painting that exemplifies the Anglo-French artists approach to the Italian landscape, in which the topographic accuracy of the English watercolor tradition is combined with the chromatic richness and compositional sophistication of the French academic tradition. Bonington, who was born in England and raised in France, developed a style of landscape painting that combined the best qualities of both national traditions, producing works that were praised by Delacroix for their freshness and spontaneity and that had a significant influence on the development of French landscape painting in the decades before the Barbizon School. The grounds of the villa near Florence, with their cypresses, terraces, and views of the Tuscan countryside, provided Bonington with a subject that combined the architectural interest of a specific location with the atmospheric effects of the Italian landscape that had attracted northern artists since the 18th century. The oil on millboard medium, which provides a smooth surface for the thin, fluid brushstrokes that distinguish Boningtons best work, creates the effect of light and atmosphere that makes his paintings feel like oil translations of watercolors, with the transparency of the watercolor medium preserved in the opacity of oil paint. The year 1826 places this painting in the brief period of Boningtons greatest accomplishment before his premature death from tuberculosis in 1828 at the age of 26.
Cultural Impact
Boningtons Italian landscapes are among the most accomplished works in the history of Anglo-French painting, and their influence on the development of French landscape painting extends from Delacroix to the Barbizon School and the Impressionists. View on the Grounds of a Villa near Florence exemplifies the combination of English watercolor freshness and French academic sophistication that made his work significant.
Why It Matters
A 1826 oil on millboard painting by Bonington of the grounds of a Florentine villa, combining English watercolor transparency with French chromatic sophistication in the topographic accuracy and atmospheric effects of the Italian landscape tradition.
