Object number1864.1.268

Ravello

Date1848

Artist Jasper Francis Cropsey (American, 1823-1900)

CultureAmerican

MediumPencil with watercolor

DimensionsMatted: 22 x 16 in. (55.88 x 40.64 cm)
Sheet: 11 1/2 x 8 1/4 in. (29.21 x 20.96 cm)
Sight: 7 3/4 x 6 1/8 in. (19.69 x 15.56 cm)

Credit LineGift of Matthew Vassar

Period19th c

Classification(s)

Drawings and Watercolors

SignedSigned and dated (LR): J F Cropsey July 9th 1848

InscribedInscribed (LR): Ravello (illegible)

BibliographyAll Seasons and Every Light, (Poughkeepsie: FLLAC, 1983), p. 46 repr. ProvenanceCollections: Elias Magoon
Exhibition HistoryPoughkeepsie, NY, FLLAC, Vassar College, "All Seasons and Every Light," October 14-December 16, 1983.

Label TextJasper Francis Cropsey was a prominent American landscape painter in the nineteenth century. Since most of his paintings feature natural vistas that minimize human presence (such as the nearby Artist Sketching on Greenwood Lake), sketches like Ravello offer a glimpse into a lesser-known part of his practice. He drafted this architectural study during his voyage to Italy between 1847 and 1849. For Cropsey, and many of his American peers, Italy—particularly Rome—represented an enchanted land filled with remnants of bygone eras. While staying in Rome and its environs, Cropsey joined a thriving community of American artists and intellectuals who had established residences and studios in the “Eternal City.” A trained architect, Cropsey was clearly drawn to the ruins and buildings he encountered throughout his journeys, as with this sketch of a tower in the town of Ravello. Two nearby paintings of Italian subjects, Morning on the Coast of Sicily and Evening at Paestum, similarly feature architectural elements that Cropsey visited on a later European tour.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email loebcollections@vassar.edu