View from the Villa d'Este, Tivoli

Simon Denis

ca. 1786–1806 · Oil on paper, laid down on canvas · European Paintings

This work straddles the boundary between an informal study and a finished painting. Aerial perspective, the combined effect of light and atmosphere, is seen here as the veil of haze that softens details near the horizon. Similar paintings by Denis’s elder contemporaries were becoming increasingly popular in Paris at the time Denis lived there, from 1775 until his move to Rome about 1786.

Artist

Simon Denis

Date

ca. 1786–1806

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