Description
Although painted in France, this work depicts bathers near Tivoli, a popular, parklike estate near Rome, famous for its fountains, picturesque hills, and lush forests. As was the custom for many artists of the 19th century, d'Aligny traveled to Italy to study. He remained there from 1825 until 1827, making careful drawings and oil sketches directly from the Roman countryside. He would often use these works to compose more finished paintings in his studio. Although d'Aligny visited Italy twice more, his last trip was in 1843. This painting, made years after that date, is therefore a true souvenir, that is, a recollection evoking his experiences in Italy
Provenance
Possibly Paris, Aligny sale, Drouot, 8-9 March 1878 (lot 1), Les Baigneuses. Paris art market. Bought in 1979 by Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox, London. Purchased by the CMA on 22 November 1980.
The Bathers, Souvenir of the Banks of the Anio River at Tivoli
c. 1860/1861
Accession Number
1980.4
Medium
oil on wood panel
Dimensions
Framed: 58.5 x 60.5 x 8 cm (23 1/16 x 23 13/16 x 3 1/8 in.); Unframed: 37.5 x 41 cm (14 3/4 x 16 1/8 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
Tags
Painting Impressionist & Modern (1851–1900) Oil Painting Panel Painting French
Background & Context
Background Story
Theodore Caruelle d'Aligny (1798-1871) was a French painter known for the atmospheric, precisely observed landscape paintings of Italian subjects that make him one of the accomplished landscape painters of the French Neoclassical tradition. The Bathers, Souvenir of the Banks of the Anio River at Tivoli from c. 1860/1861 depicts bathers on the banks of the Anio River at Tivoli in the atmospheric, precisely observed manner that distinguishes d'Aligny's best work from the more general landscape painting of his contemporaries. Tivoli—the famous Italian town with its waterfalls and Roman ruins—was one of the most important subjects in the landscape painting tradition, and d'Aligny's atmospheric treatment shows the Italian landscape at its most accomplished.
Cultural Impact
The Bathers, Souvenir of the Banks of the Anio River at Tivoli is important in the history of French landscape painting because it demonstrates the atmospheric, precisely observed manner that d'Aligny brought to Italian subjects as one of the accomplished landscape painters of the French Neoclassical tradition. D'Aligny's atmospheric, precisely observed landscapes of Italian subjects—combining the atmospheric effect of the Italian landscape with the precise observation that is his most distinctive contribution—represent one of the accomplished traditions in French landscape painting, and the c. 1860/1861 painting shows this tradition at its most atmospheric.
Why It Matters
The Bathers, Souvenir of the Banks of the Anio River at Tivoli is d'Aligny's atmospheric Italian landscape: bathers on the banks of the Anio River rendered in the precisely observed manner of one of the accomplished landscape painters of the French Neoclassical tradition. The c. 1860/1861 painting shows the atmospheric effect and precise observation of the Italian landscape.
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