Chris Beetles Gallery

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Torre Annunziata

Albert Goodwin (1845-1932)

Price

£9,500

Signed

Signed, inscribed 'Torre Anunziata' and dated 'March 1900'

Medium

Watercolour with pen and ink

Dimensions

10 x 14 ¾ inches

Exhibited

'An Exhibition of Pictures and Watercolours entitled "In Praise of All The Churches" by Albert Goodwin, RWS', The Fine Art Society, London, November 1900, no 9, as 'Torre Anunziata, Near Naples';
'Albert Goodwin, RWS (1845-1932)', Chris Beetles Gallery, London, June 2007, no 71;
'The Long Nineteenth Century: Treasures and Pleasures', Chris Beetles Gallery, London, March-April 2014, no 70;
'In Search of Sun and Shadow. The Art of Albert Goodwin (1845-1932)', Chris Beetles Gallery, London, October-November 2019, no 169;
'Three Victorian Travellers', Chris Beetles Gallery, London, March-April 2024

Probably the work exhibited at 'Drawings and Pictures by Albert Goodwin RWS', Leggatt Brothers Gallery, London, 1908, as no 68, 'Torre Anunziata and Vesuvius'

From the late eighteenth century, British artists visited Torre Annunziata in order to take in the view of Mount Vesuvius. The town had been built on the remains of Oplontis, one of the settlements destroyed in the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79. It took its name from a chapel dedicated to the Virgin of the Annunciation, which was founded by Guglielmo di Nocera in 1319.
By the time of Albert Goodwin’s visit in 1900, it had become an industrial centre specialising in the production of firearms and pasta, especially macaroni, and the processing of other foods. However, he focussed on its picturesque harbour front dominated by the dome of the Chiesa dello Santo Spirito and the looming presence of Vesuvius, and so created something of a symphony in blue, grey and white. He first produced a watercolour of the composition, exhibited at the Fine Art Society in 1900, which provided the basis for the oil of the same subject exhibited in Chris Beetles Summer Show in 2020.

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