Two views of the Island of Capri
  • Claude-Louis Châtelet
  • Paris 1753 - 1794
  • Two views of the Island of Capri, before 1781
  • Watercolour over pen and black ink, on paper, each on an old mount
  • unknown dry stamp on one mount (Lugt 172) (B)
  • 248 × 371 mm (A), 232 × 347 mm (B)
Provenance:
Collection M. Levy, Paris
his sale Hôtel Drouot, Paris, November 4th, 1970, lot 45
Sotheby’s London, July 4th, 1994, lots 135, 136 (ills.)
Didier Aaron & Cie., Paris
Literature:
Peter Lamers: Il viaggio nel Sud dell’Abbé de Saint-Non, Naples 1995, nos. 91a (A), 92d (B), ills. pp. 146, 147

These sheets came into existence at the urging of the artistically ambitious Jean-Claude Richard, Abbé de Saint-Non (1721-1791). Together with mutual friends at the French Academy in Rome, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Hubert Robert, and LouisJean Desprez, they created over 500 illustrations for texts by Dominique Vivant-Denon, which the Abbé published between 1781-1786 in Paris. Under the title Le Voyage pittoresque ou Déscription historique des Royaumes de Naples et de Sicile, these travel descriptions immediately enjoyed an unexpected proliferation. Our view A was etched by Joseph de Longueil with only minor deviations and was included in the printed publication (Volume III, Chapter X, Plate 97).