Lot 54: Jean-Pierre Pequignot (Beaume-les-Dames 1765-1807 Naples)

Morning and Evening: A classical landscape with shepherds, an acquaduct beyond; and A classical landscape with shepherds and nymphs by a lake, a hilltop castle beyond
the first signed, inscribed and dated 'P. Pequignot./Naples/1800' (lower right) and the second signed, inscribed and dated 'P. Pequignot./à Naples. 1800.' (lower right)
oil on canvas
26 3/8 x 36 1/8 (67 x 91.4 cm.)
a pair (2)

with Thomas Agnew and Sons, from whom acquired by the present owner.

Born in the Franche-Comté, Pequignot trained in the studio of Joseph Vernet. Like many of his generation he travelled to Rome and studied at the Academie Française, where he probably became friends with his fellow artist Anne-Louis Girodet (1767-1824). In 1793 they both set off from Rome to travel south to Naples. Although Girodet returned to France in 1795, Pequinot remainedin Naples, where he developed a Romantic style of landscape painting inspired by his surroundings and suffused with an idealised classicism. His career was cut short by his premature death in 1807, and works by Pequignot are relatively rare. The present pair are excellent examples of his mature work; another similar landscape, La Cava dei Tirreni, signed and dated 1803, is in the Musée de Beaux-Arts et d'Archéologie, Besançon.

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