Charles Joseph Natoire

(1700–1777)

The Cascade at the Villa Aldobrandini, Frascati

Inscribed by the artist in pen and brown ink, at lower left, Belvedere di Fescati; signed and dated at lower right, C. Natoire 1762.

Pen and brown and black ink, brown wash, black and red chalk, heightened with white, on light brown paper

12 x 18 1/2 inches (305 x 469 mm)

Purchased as the gift of the Fellows

1965.18

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Item description:

As director of the French Academy in Rome, an office he held from between 1751 and 1775, Natoire encouraged the study of landscape draftsmanship among his students by practicing it himself. This drawing is one of a pair to which Natoire referred in a July 1762 letter to the Marquis de Marigny. Natoire indicated that he was sending Marigny two drawings—views of the cascade from opposite sides—which he had made during his visit to Frascati. These drawings may have once been part of the album of more than 106 views of Rome by Natoire sold in 1778, after his death.