George Inness in Italy... a must-see for me!

"Twilight on the Campagna"

George Inness in Italy (through May 15, 2011), now at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, features ten oil  paintings that survey Inness’s Italian subjects dating from 1850 to 1879. A canonical figure in American painting,  Inness (1825–1894) is widely admired as the pioneer of Tonalism, which is notable for its soft focus and translucent layers of paint.

Twilight on the Campagna, Inness's first major work completed in italy, was recently conserved and has not been on view at the museum since 1952. I have long admired his landscapes, especially as the artist settled  in my home state of New Jersey and painted many familiar scenes in and around Monclair (The Montclair Art Museum houses an impressive collection of his work). Looking forward to viewing this latest exhibit.