View in the Dolomites
Gilles-François-Joseph Closson Belgian
Not on view
Closson was a longtime pupil of Antoine-Jean Gros, the leading French painter of military subjects during the Napoleonic era. But the award of a stipend that enabled Closson to live in Rome from 1825 until 1829 altered the course of his pursuits, and in Italy he abandoned history painting in favor of landscape. This sketch typifies his method of recording observations quickly yet scrupulously, with a portion of the sheet left in reserve. The sunstruck view is thought to represent the alps of northern Italy.
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