Provenance: Bruun Rasmussen auction 533, 1990 no. 402, ill. p. 50, here erroneously described as “View from the hills at Olevano”. Kunsthallen auction 387, 1990 no. 164, ill. p. 9, entitled “View from the Bay of Sorrento”. Kunsthallen auction 407, 1991 no. 108, entitled “Landscape with a wide view of the coast at Sorrento” and dated c. 1832, ill. p. 43.

“Vid udsigt ned over Napolibugten med Vesuv i baggrunden” / “Wide view over the Bay of Naples with Vesuvius in the background” by MA Lise-Lott Barlas:

In the painting, we are high up, where the tree line seems to be ending. The ground is barren and rocky. At the top left, you can see two old trees, probably oaks. The tree on the right leans towards the other and seems to cling to it so as not to fall, giving us a neat view of the volcano Vesuvius, which like a stigma tells us where we are. To the right of this, in a recess, a lone farmer can be seen wearing a straw hat to protect against the sun and light clothing, which almost makes him fall into one with the ground. He turns his back to the viewer and is absorbed in his work. The sun falls in from the right and casts shadows on a road that continues as a path behind a slope with a tree and other vegetation. The path is supposed to be followed all the way along the edge to the depths, where many trees of various species grow, including grey-green olive trees. Deep down you can see the blue sea, broken by a high and steep cliff and by the headland with the volcano.

To avoid the unbearable heat of Rome in the summer, Fritz Petzholdt made it his habit during the six years he stayed in Italy (1830–36) to take refuge in the mountains or at the sea. At the beginning of March 1831, he thus traveled to Naples, where on 20 March he sailed to Palermo. In Sicily he remained approx. half a year. From here he went back to Naples and to Capri for a good week and then returned to Rome around 1 November. In the summer of 1832 and 1833, Petzholdt just went up into the mountains, but in 1834 he both went up into the mountains and took a trip to Naples and the sea. He did the same in 1835, when he was visited by his best Danish friend, Gottlieb Collin. After spending some time in his beloved Sabine Hills, Monti Sabini (Monti Equi) he met Collin in Rome, and on September 10 they went to Southern Italy and a few days to Capri. A month later they were back in Rome, and Collin traveled back home to Copenhagen. The following year there was another visit from Denmark, namely from the wholesaler family, Hans Puggaard, with whom Petzholdt was good friends from home. They stayed in Naples as well as in Vico Equense, which lies to the north but close to Sorrento in the south. When the Puggaards traveled back to Rome at the end of July to meet with Thorvaldsen, who had not come to Naples despite an invitation, Petzholdt, however, traveled to Capri. In addition to drawing and painting here, he also bathed. We know he even swam into the Blue Grotto, a trip only suitable for skilled swimmers. On Capri he remained until 29 August. He then went back to Rome, which he left two months later to return home to Denmark. His father had died suddenly on April 14, but Petzholdt had needed time in the company of friends to recover from the sad news. Against his own expectation, he never came to Italy again."

Bruun Rasmussen would like to thank MA Lise-Lott Barlas for this essay about Fritz Petzholdt and the present painting.