View of Beirut

Jules Coignet

1844 · Oil on paper, laid down on canvas · European Paintings

Coignet’s visit to the Middle East in 1844–46 provided him with subject matter for paintings he later exhibited at the annual Paris Salons. This picturesque view is founded on formal conventions of Neoclassical landscape composition, but the spirited brushwork used to convey the shimmering Mediterranean light is characteristic of an informal sketch. As if to emphasize the speed with which it was completed, Coignet inscribed the location and date in the still-wet paint with the wood end of his brush.

Artist

Jules Coignet

Date

1844

Medium

Oil on paper, laid down on canvas

Department

European Paintings

Credit line

The Whitney Collection, Promised Gift of Wheelock Whitney III, and Purchase, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles S. McVeigh, by exchange, 2003