Provenance
William Esdaile, London (Lugt 2617, inscribed lower right, in brown ink). George Nahaus (according to departmental card; see inscription on former verso: 1954.674.1). Valentine (according to departmental card)
Accession Number
1954.674
Medium
pen and brown ink and brush and brown and gray wash over traces of graphite; framing lines in graphite
Dimensions
Sheet: 19 x 30.2 cm (7 1/2 x 11 7/8 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Credit Line
The Norweb Collection
Tags
Drawing Baroque (1600–1750) Ink Graphite & Pencil Italian Color: Orange
Background & Context
Background Story
Filippo Napoletano (c. 1587-1629) was an Italian painter known for the precisely observed landscape and marine paintings that make him one of the most distinctive painters of the early Baroque period in Italy. Landscape with Tower at Seashore from 1600-1614 depicts a landscape with a tower at the seashore in the precisely observed, atmospheric manner that distinguishes Filippo's best work from the more general landscape painting of his contemporaries. Filippo was known for his precisely observed views of the Italian coast and landscape, and the seashore tower subject shows his talent for combining precise observation with atmospheric effect.
Cultural Impact
Landscape with Tower at Seashore is important in the history of Italian landscape painting because it demonstrates the precisely observed, atmospheric manner that Filippo brought to landscape and marine subjects as one of the most distinctive painters of the early Baroque period in Italy. Filippo's precisely observed landscapes—combining the observation of the Italian coast with atmospheric effect—represent one of the most distinctive traditions in early Baroque landscape painting, and the 1600-1614 painting shows this tradition at its most precisely observed.
Why It Matters
Landscape with Tower at Seashore is Filippo Napoletano's precisely observed landscape: a tower at the seashore rendered in the atmospheric manner of one of the most distinctive painters of the early Baroque period in Italy. The 1600-1614 painting shows the combination of precise observation with atmospheric effect that makes Filippo one of the most distinctive landscape painters of the period.
