A Mediterranean Seaport
Artist: Charles François Lacroix (French, died 1782)
Date: 1750
Dimensions:
H: 37 1/4 in. (94.6 cm); W: 65 3/4 in. (164.5 cm)
Medium: Oil on canvas.
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number: 1956.64
Label Text:With a taste for fantastic architectural settings and for ambitious and descriptive compositions, Lacroix de Marseille specialized in landscapes and port scenes. Here he presents an imaginary view of a harbor town at sunset, though given the predominance of French flags on the ships, it is perhaps based on Marseilles. The harbor features a classical ruined temple, a lighthouse based on that of Naples, and a mixture of the classes—from wealthy tourists in their fashionable finery to dock laborers and fishermen to robed, pipe-smoking Ottoman Turks.
Little is known about Lacroix, whose earliest known work is dated 1743. Presumably born at Marseilles, France, he was in Rome by 1750 (the place and the year that he painted this canvas) and lived in Italy for an extended period, where he worked for Italian and also French patrons. Toledo’s A Mediterranean Seaport is widely considered to be one of his masterworks.
Little is known about Lacroix, whose earliest known work is dated 1743. Presumably born at Marseilles, France, he was in Rome by 1750 (the place and the year that he painted this canvas) and lived in Italy for an extended period, where he worked for Italian and also French patrons. Toledo’s A Mediterranean Seaport is widely considered to be one of his masterworks.
Not on view
In Collection(s)