05.20.2021-06.30.2021
AMAZING NATURE
Watercolors, gouaches, drawings XVIIIth-XIXth centuries
Artists: Saverio della Gatta (active circa 1777-1827), Camillo de Vito (active circa 1790-1835), ALR Ducros (1748-1810), Neapolitan school, Carl Hackert (1740-1796), Jakob Philipp Hackert (1737-1807)
In the 18th century, the development of natural sciences led to the appearance of new disciplines such as volcanology, geology and glaciology. This development left an incredible mark in art: landscape painting develops particularly from the 17th century in the Netherlands and in the 18th century, the genre continues to free itself from the classical tradition and artists become aware of the latest scientific discoveries thanks to the salons and the propagation of ideas in the press and the numerous published works. At the same time, theories on the sublime began to circulate, especially after 1757 and the publication by Edmund Burke (1729-1797) of his treatise on the subject. This concept encompasses extreme feelings experienced in the face of violent manifestations of nature, such as fear or the sensation of infinity and is opposed to the aesthetics of mere beauty, which is characterised by harmony. The new art tries to provoke in the spectator a pleasure which derives at the same time from a feeling of weakness when placed directly before the raw wild power of nature coupled with the sense that one is being given a special privilege by the artist – the ability to admire the spectacle without danger. The artists thus seized on themes such as storms, floods, volcanic eruptions and other natural disasters and they also emphasised the structure of rocks, cliffs or glaciers. In the 19th century, the Romantics used the tormented landscape as a reflection of the soul and its passions.
Vesuvius and its silhouette are omnipresent in the Neapolitan panorama. The volcano, whose activity resumed in 1631, became a must-see for travellers on the Grand Tour passing through Naples. The scientific interest had been developing since the Renaissance and the various eruptions were documented with precision. Naturally, artists took up the subject and made it a recurring motif that became the most characteristic symbol of the city, and every tourist could thus acquire in the gouache studios a representation of the terrible mountain. The scene is often nocturnal, appreciated for its effects of contrast between the glowing lava and the inky sky. Camillo de Vito (active circa 1790-1835) is certainly the most representative artist of the sub-genre of Neapolitan gouache. Going for the dramatic effect rather than aiming at realism, the artist delivers an image whose simultaneously terrifying and fascinating aspects perfectly reflect the experience of the human soul in front of the spectacle of nature.