Naples on a Moonlit Night. Via Partenope and the Castel dell'Ovo
1829
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Location in museum
The Mikhailovsky Palace
Open the panorama of the hall in the virtual tour
Room 16 - Period Early 19th century
- CategoryLandscape
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Presents a view of Naples waterfront from west to east. In the centre there is via Partenope – the street, which was a passage from the Royal gardens to the waterfront of Santa Lucia. Above we see the houses on the hill Pizzofalcone and the dome of the Church of San Francesco di Paola. On the right appears Castel dell'Ovo. The painting is known in four versions.
In the last years of his life, continuing his artistic explorations, Sylvester Schedrin painted many nocturnal landscapes. The majority of them are small works, in which the artist transforms ordinary landscapes by portraying the gentle moonlight with poetic lyricism. Towards the end of his life, however, the dramatic basis intensified in his art. From the almost Neoclassical clarity of outlook in his early works, Schedrin switched to a more dramatic treatment of existence.
Existing in several versions, Naples on a Moonlit Night has a complicated composition, in which the artist resolves a difficult pictorial task — how to combine the cold light of the moon with the flame of a burning fire. He also portrays the general atmosphere of alarm and tension typical of the nocturnal life of a town, creating a canvas perforated with brightly expressed Romantic moods. Russian Museum: From Icons to the Modern Times. Palace Editions, St Petersburg, 2015. P. 131.