Simon-Joseph-Alexander-Clément Denis (Flemish, 1755-1813)

Not long after his arrival in Rome, Denis's work gained notice in the Roman newspaper Giornale per le belle arti when in 1787 a journalist wrote a long article in praise of one of his landscapes, noting Denis's ability to render effects of light and his convincing observation of detail. With his open-air studies of the Roman Campagna, Denis followed Valenciennes's example in favoring little known aspects of the region and in making his overriding interest the atmospheric effect of nature on the environment. To capture these effects he worked outside in all possible conditions of season, light and weather, and painted quickly and freely to capture nature's changing effects (see Jeremy Strick in the catalogue of the exhibition, In the Light of Italy: Corot and Early Open-Air Painting, Washington, National Gallery of Art, May 26-Sept. 2, 1996, pp. 145-9).