Guiseppe De Nittis (Italian, 1846 to 1884)
As an exhibitor at the first Impressionist exhibition of 1874, de Nittis established himself as a chronicler of Parisian life and a painter of park and landscape settings. Although he settled permanently in Paris in 1868, de Nittis had visited the city in 1867 at the time of the Exposition Universelle. While the number of works that he completed at this early date remains unknown, only a few are recorded in the de Nittis catalogue in the de Nittis catalogue raisonne.
De Nittis’ inclination to record the activities of strollers, to place them within an imagined or partially recalled setting, suggests the tradition of eighteenth century painting – then a strong influence in Paris under the aegis of a budding rococo revival. The delicacy of the setting, and the use of a space where figures could enjoy a relaxed, carefree walk, furthur reveals that de Nittis was well attuned to the direction and the type of themes that the early Impressionists were painting.
His use of luminous color provides a note of lush romanticism. While the use of pigment blurs some of the forms, de Nittis may have been responding to the compositions of Adolph Monticelli, whose canvases, in this vein, were viewed in a very positive way. Ties with this painter, from the south of France, and with the ways in which figural themes were becomming most significnt to younger artists during the 1860′s, position de Nittis in the foreground of the younger generation. In tying these strands together, it suggests that the artist was most aware of contemporary issues and his painting reflects these attitudes in a very progressive way.
Information courtesy of Sloan’s Auction Galleries, February 2001.