Simon Denis was born in Antwerp but settled in Italy from 1786, living in Rome and Naples. He was court painter to Joseph Bonaparte, King of Naples, from 1806 until his death in 1813.
While in Italy Denis specialised in finished landscapes of famous sites, such as the waterfalls of Tivoli near Rome. His technique was exact and detailed and he paid great attention to naturalistic details and light effects. During his period in Rome he also made oil sketches in the open air, which unusually he often signed and annotated.
Simon Denis
1755 - 1813
Paintings by Simon Denis
Painted around 1800, this small oil sketch on canvas is a fine example of the type of study produced by artists working in Italy from about 1780 to 1850, who painted swiftly and directly from nature. Simon Denis’s oil studies are often of dramatic scenes from nature, particularly the spectacle of...
