JEAN-CHARLES-JOSEPH RÉMOND (1795-1875)

TOURISTS IN THE GROTTO OF NEPTUNE, TIVOLI
Oil on canvas
62 x 76.5 cm
 
Provenance:
Private collection, UK.
 
 
 
The present scene is one which Rémond treated on several occasions, varying the staffage slightly in each example, possibly with the assistance of a studio hand. These works date from after his time in Rome (including two dated 1833 and 1836 (1), and were clearly popular with his Parisian clientele, who were taken with the romantic view of tourists gazing out over the impressive falls of Tivoli from the ancient Grotto - a popular tourist and artistic location, reached by steep stairs down the cliff-face. The location was painted by artists from the late 18th century onwards, though the scene was especially popular between c.1780-1800, with painters such as Abraham-Louis-Rodolphe Ducros, Jakob Philip Hackert, Simon Denis and Carlo Labruzzi among others visiting the location whilst staying in Rome. 
 
 
Jean-Charles-Joseph Rémond was born in Paris, where he received his initial training as an artist in the studios of Henri Victor Regnault and Jean Victor Bertin, two of the foremost landscape painters of the day. Rémond was awarded the prestigious Grand Prix de Paysage Historique (the Prix de Rome) in 1821, and the young artist would go on to spend the next five years in Italy, spending much of his time painting sketches in oils en plein air. The young artist dedicated himself to landscape painting for the remainder of his career, staying largely true to the naturalistic style honed amongst his peers in at the Academie in Rome. Rémond’s career culminated in his tutelage of the young Théodore Rousseau, one of the founding artists of the Barbizon School and one of the most influential landscape painters of the 19th century.