Marina Piccola, Capri, c. 1858

Not on View

Medium

oil on paper on canvas

Dimensions

overall (paper support): 30.5 x 47 cm (12 x 18 1/2 in.)
overall (fabric support): 31.7 x 48 cm (12 1/2 x 18 7/8 in.)

framed: 48.9 x 65.4 x 10.2 cm (19 1/4 x 25 3/4 x 4 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Helen Haseltine Plowden

Accession Number

1953.10.1

Artists / Makers

William Stanley Haseltine (artist) American, 1835 - 1900

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Provenance

The artist; his estate, Palazzo Altieri, Rome, until c. 1930; his daughter, Helen Haseltine Plowden [Mrs. Roger Plowden], New York; gift 1953 to NGA.

Associated Names

Haseltine, William Stanley
Plowden, Roger H., Mrs.

Exhibition History

1980: American Light: The Luminist Movement, 1850-1875, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980, 27, fig. 16.

1992: The Lure of Italy: American Artists and the Italian Experience, 1760-1914, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Cleveland Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1992-1993, no. 60, 293-294, repro.

Technical Summary

The painting is on paper, mounted to fabric with a brown paper interleaf. The fabric is attached to the original four-member mortise-and-tenon stretcher with tacks that have been hammered in halfway and then bent over (as is the case with Haseltine's Natural Arch at Capri [1989.13.1]). Tack holes in the corners of the paper suggest that the artist executed a preliminary sketch with the paper pinned to a drawing board or similar support. That he attached the paper to the secondary support before completing the painting is evident from the presence of original paint on the edges of the brown paper interleaf and in the corner tack holes.

The paint is moderately rich and was applied with considerable texture and impasto; many areas of glazing and scumbling are apparent. Drying cracks in the sky are covered by glazes and scumbles, almost certainly applied by the artist. Infrared reflectography reveals extensive underdrawing in a liquid medium over a white ground layer. A few modifications were made in the final composition (especially in the shapes of the rocks), but the changes were not of great significance. In 1984 discolored varnish was removed and the painting was restored. A 23-cm vertical scratch across the center of the painting, the result of vandalism, was inpainted. The varnish has not discolored.

Bibliography

1970: American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 64, repro.

1980: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 171, repro.

1980: Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: 26, repro.

1981: Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: 122, repro., 123.

1988: Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 104, repro.

1992: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 195, repro.

1992: Simpson, Marc, Andrea Henderson, and Sally Mills. Expressions of Place: The Art of William Stanley Haseltine. Exh. cat. M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco; Brandywine River Museum, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. San Francisco, 1992: repro.

1996: Kelly, Franklin, with Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr., Deborah Chotner, and John Davis. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 272-274, color repro.