* Alexandre-Hyacinthe Dunouy Paris 1757-1841 Lyon

Alexandre-Hyacinthe Dunouy can be included among artists such as Valenciennes, Michallon, Bertin and Bidauld who were the first generation to embrace plein air painting.  They were not concerned with the traditional types of landscape painting; they sought to capture, on paper and canvas, the light and atmosphere found in nature. 

After an apprenticeship with the historical painter Gabrial Briard, Dunouy submitted a landscape to the ‘Salon de la Jeunesse’ in 1781.  Shortly after this, in 1787-1790, the artist took his first trip to Italy. His travels through that country are well document by numerous dated and located works (Marino 1788, Tivoli 1789, Isola 1790). His sojourn in Italy and his return trip through the Jura, Switzerland and Savoy surely provided ample material for the canvases he presented to the Salon from 1791 onwards. Included among the subjects he presented were views from Rome, the surrounding towns, as well as the landscape of the French countryside.  

The present canvas, dated 1792, is an early painting done by the artist just after his first trip to Italy. During this period Dunouy produced canvases that were small in size but great in detail.  His meticulous attention to detail may have been due in part to his collaboration on works with Jean-Louis Demarne and Nicolas-Antoine Taunay. 

The present painting will be included in the forthcoming Catalogue Raisonné on Dunouy prepared by Madame Chorier-Polycarpe.