The Cascades of Tivoli 1760

Claude-Joseph Vernet made this landscape painting, The Cascades of Tivoli, using oil paint, during a time when this medium was well established but still evolving. Oil paint is made by grinding pigments into a drying oil. This allows for subtle gradations of color, a glossy surface, and the possibility of extensive reworking. These characteristics are all on display here, in the misty atmosphere and careful rendering of water. The artist likely built up the image in layers, working from dark underpainting to lighter highlights. This was a laborious process, reflecting the traditional workshop model of art production, where skill and patience were valued. But there’s also a connection here to social class. The people depicted are clearly members of the leisured elite, which, of course, would have had the means to acquire works like this. While seemingly worlds apart, both the artist and the well-to-do were embedded in the same economic system. Looking at this work, it reminds us that the aesthetic qualities we admire are connected to labor, social context, and the system of consumption that allows art to exist.