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Virgil's Tomb, Naples

ca. 1818
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 806
The iconic view of Naples as seen through the cleft between Virgil’s Tomb at the left and the rocky outcropping at the right was a principal attraction of the Grand Tour. Catel used this plein-air sketch as the basis for a larger composition (Museum Folkwang, Essen) that features a dog and two human figures, one of whom might be the Russian state official Prince Alexander Nikolaevich Golitsyn, who accompanied the artist on a trip to southern Italy in 1818.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Virgil's Tomb, Naples
  • Artist: Franz Ludwig Catel (German, Berlin 1778–1856 Rome)
  • Date: ca. 1818
  • Medium: Oil on paper, laid down on canvas
  • Dimensions: 12 x 8 3/4 in. (30.5 x 22.2 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: The Whitney Collection, Gift of Wheelock Whitney III, and Purchase, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles S. McVeigh, by exchange, 2003

  • Object Number: 2003.42.49
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

More Artwork
First Steps, Franz Ludwig Catel German, Oil on canvas
First Steps
Franz Ludwig Catel
ca. 1820–25
Self-Portrait, turned slightly to the left, Käthe Kollwitz German, Pen and different shades of gray-black ink
Self-Portrait, turned slightly to the left
Käthe Kollwitz
ca. 1893
At the Milliner's, Edgar Degas French, Pastel on five pieces of wove paper, backed with paper, and laid down on canvas
At the Milliner's
Edgar Degas
1881
Virgil's Tomb by Moonlight, with Silius Italicus Declaiming, Joseph Wright (Wright of Derby) British, Oil on canvas
Virgil's Tomb by Moonlight, with Silius Italicus Declaiming
Joseph Wright (Wright of Derby)
1779
View of the Bay of Naples with Mount Vesuvius, Franz Ludwig Catel German, Graphite, watercolor
View of the Bay of Naples with Mount Vesuvius
Franz Ludwig Catel
Former Attribution (Johann Heinrich) Ferdinand Olivier
ca. 1820–1822

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