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Landscape Near Cava

Landscape Near Cava

Artist: Achille Etna Michallon (French, 1796-1822)
Date: about 1820
Dimensions:
H: 13 3/4 in. (34.9 cm); W: 19 in. (48.3 cm)
Medium: Oil on paper on canvas
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Gift of The Georgia Welles Apollo Society
Object number: 2010.30
Label Text:Achille Michallon, the son of sculptor Claude Michallon, grew up in the Louvre where his parents had an apartment adjacent to his father's studio. Trained as a painter under Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes (see his Classical Landscape in the Museum’s collection), Michallon exhibited two works in 1817 at the annual exhibition sponsored by the French Academy of Painting and Sculpture that earned him the very first prix de Rome for historical landscape. The prestigious “Rome prize” was given by the Academy in several categories and allowed artists to spend a period of time working in Rome at the state’s expense.

Michallon set off for Rome in 1818 and stayed in Italy until 1821. While there he painted Landscape Near Cava. It records the locale near Cava de Tirreni, situated between Naples and Salerno. The picturesque town was a stopping-off place for artists traveling down the Italian coast. The dramatic vista explores Michallon’s intellectual and emotional response to Nature largely by means of perspective and color gradation.
On view
In Collection(s)