Simon Denis - Sunset in the Roman Campagna [c.1800]

Simon Denis - Sunset in the Roman Campagna [c.1800], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Simon Denis (1755 – 1813) painted this rapid sketch of a sunset in the open air, in the countryside around Rome. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, open-air sketching in oil paint became common artistic practice in the warm climate of Italy. This sky study, intended to capture fleeting effects of light, would have been used as a basis for a large-scale landscape painting, made in the studio.

Simon Denis was born in Antwerp but settled in Italy from 1786, living in Rome and Naples. He was court painter to Joseph Bonaparte, King of Naples, from 1806 until his death in 1813. While in Italy Denis specialised in finished landscapes of famous sites, such as the waterfalls of Tivoli near Rome. His technique was exact and detailed and he paid great attention to naturalistic details and light effects. During his period in Rome he also made oil sketches in the open air, which unusually he often signed and annotated.

[Oil on paper, 18.2 x 26.2 cm]