Capri, the Cathedral

1859

FREDERIC LORD LEIGHTON, 1830-1896

This study by Frederic Leighton of St Stephen’s Cathedral in Capri was first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1897. Next to the church is the famous Hotel Pagano, frequented by many artists residing in Capri.

IN DETAIL

Dimensions

20,3 x 25,4 cm

Medium

Oil on board

Approfondimenti

Locanda Pagano was a famous meeting place for artists staying in Capri. Before Leighton, various landscape painters such as the Danes Christian Købke (1846) and Vilhelm Kyhn (1851), William Stanley Haseltine (1857) and August Kopisch chose it as their residence. Centrally located and boasting a lush garden with a famous palm tree, the place was ideal for practising typical Capri subjects.

As Pola Durajska has pointed out, Leighton clearly shortened and slightly altered the actual layout of the buildings in order to condense the landmarks into a particularly successful pyramidal composition. The view is bathed in the pink hues of sunset, which casts elongated shadows evoking the approach of evening.