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Artwork Details
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Title:Mausoleum of San Vito near Pozzuoli
Artist:Johan Christian Dahl (Norwegian, Bergen 1788–1857 Dresden)
Date:1820
Medium:Oil on paper, laid down on cardboard
Dimensions:8 1/2 x 13 3/4 in. (21.6 x 34.9 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Thaw Collection, Jointly Owned by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Morgan Library & Museum, Gift of Eugene V. Thaw, 2009
Object Number:2009.400.36
by descent to the artist's grandson, Justitiarius George J. Bull, Norway (probably until at least 1907); private collection, Trondheim (in 1987); [Galerie Jean-François Heim, Paris]; Eugene V. Thaw, New York (by 2002–9)
New York. Pierpont Morgan Library. "The Thaw Collection: Master Drawings and Oil Sketches, Acquisitions Since 1994," September 27, 2002–January 19, 2003, no. 83.
Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art. "The Romantic Prospect: Plein Air Painters, 1780–1850," June 22–August 15, 2004, no. 59.
Sydney. Art Gallery of New South Wales. "Plein-air Painting in Europe, 1780–1850," September 4–October 31, 2004, no. 59.
Melbourne. National Gallery of Victoria. "Plein-air Painting in Europe, 1780–1850," November 19, 2004–January 16, 2005, no. 59.
New York. Morgan Library & Museum. "Studying Nature: Oil Sketches from the Thaw Collection," January 23–August 30, 2009, unnum. checklist (as "Mausoleum of San Vito near Pozzuoli").
New York. Morgan Library & Museum. "Views of Rome and Naples: Oil Sketches from the Thaw Collection," August 15, 2017–March 18, 2018, no catalogue.
Johan Christian Dahl. Diary entry. November 8, 1820 [Universitetsbiblioteket, Oslo, Ms. 1001, 8°; excerpt published in English transl. in Ref. Bang 1987, vol. 2, p. 106 under no. 241], the artist wrote "I have been with [Franz Ludwig] Catel at Potsolo and painted a mausoleum which is now inhabited by some poor people," a reference to this work and/or another version of the same subject (private collection, Oslo; Bang 1987, no. 241).
Andreas Aubert. Maleren Johan Christian Dahl; et stykke av forrige aarhundredes kunst- og kulturhistorie. Kristiania [Oslo], 1920, p. 453, as "Italiensk tempel" [possibly this work].
Marie Lødrup Bang. Johan Christian Dahl, 1788–1857: Life and Works. Oslo, 1987, vol. 2, p. 106, under no. 241, p. 107, no. 242 ; vol. 3, pl. 103, calls it "Mausoleo di San Vito near Pozzuoli" and dates it 1820, citing the artist's diary entry; discusses it in connection with a related work (private collection, Oslo; Ref. Bang 1987, no. 241); suggests that it may have been in the artist's 1859 or 1860 sales [however, a label on the verso indicates that this sketch remained in the artist's family until at least 1907].
Kathleen Stuart inThe Thaw Collection: Master Drawings and Oil Sketches, Acquisitions Since 1994. Exh. cat., Pierpont Morgan Library. New York, 2002, pp. 182–83, no. 83, ill. (color), calls the related sketch (Ref. Bang 1987, no. 241) more finished than the present work.
Charlotte Gere inPlein-Air Painting in Europe, 1780–1850. Exh. cat., Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art. Shizuoka, 2004, pp. 118–19, no. 59, ill. (color).
John House. "Impressionism and the Open-Air Oil Sketch." Studying Nature: Oil Sketches from the Thaw Collection. Ed. Jennifer Tonkovich. New York, 2011, p. 87, fig. 68 (color), cites it as a "striking example" of a mode of vision found in sketches characterized by an absence of the "central, priveleged, and well-defined position" of the viewer of typical Neoclassical landscape compositions.
Esther Bell. "Catalogue Raisonné of the Thaw Collection." Studying Nature: Oil Sketches from the Thaw Collection. Ed. Jennifer Tonkovich. New York, 2011, p. 113, no. 34, ill. (color), calls it "Mausoleum of San Vito near Pozzuoli" and dates it 1820.
Johan Christian Dahl (Norwegian, Bergen 1788–1857 Dresden)
late 18th–19th century
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