GIACINTO GIGANTE (ITALIAN 1806–1876)
View of the coast from Posillipo
signed G Gigante (lower right)
oil on canvas
40 x 63 cm

Giacinto Gigante is probably the most renowned artist of the Scuola di Posillipo (School of Posillipo), It was the Neapolitan landscape which was to provide Gigante with the major inspiration for his work, in particular the fishing village of Sorrento, the jewel of the Amalfi Coast, which represents an important stage in the artist's development.
Gigante has captured the view from his beloved Posillopo. This tranquil scene with the evening light bathing the figures and illuminating the buildings, revealing day to day life in the Neapolitan landscape. The style and overall type of the painting point to its likely execution during the 1840s. The work can be compared closely on stylistic and compositional grounds to treatments of the subject showing a comparable treatment of light and a similar characterisation of the figures during this period.