Description
Church in Cassone is the landscape Gustav Klimt painted on Lake Garda in the summer of 1913, on his last journey to Italy: a village of white, blue-grey and ochre houses climbs a hillside from the water, with a large church and its bell tower at the top and tall dark cypresses rising between the roofs. The original is in a private collection. We paint it by hand in oil on canvas, in eight square sizes from 60 x 60 to 150 x 150 cm or to your own measurement, and send you a photograph of the finished work for approval before dispatch.
| Title: | Church in Cassone |
| Other titles: | Kirche in Cassone · Landscape with Cypresses · Chiesa a Cassone |
| Painter: | Gustav Klimt (1862–1918) |
| Year painted: | 1913 |
| Original size: | 110 cm x 110 cm |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Vienna Secession, landscape |
| Located at: | Private collection |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted oil on canvas, eight square sizes or made to measure |
Church in Cassone – Gustav Klimt
What does the painting show?
A small Italian village fills the square from top to bottom. Houses in white, pale blue-grey and warm ochre are stacked up a hillside, one behind the other, each with a row of small dark windows. At the top left stands a church with a large roof and a bell tower, and between the houses rise tall, dark cypresses like green flames. Round bushes and trees fill the gaps with soft green.
At the bottom runs a band of blue-green water, broken into short ripples, where the village meets the lake. There is no sky at all: Klimt cut the view off just above the roofs. That gives the painting its calm, closed feeling – you look at the village as if from a boat close to the shore, and the eye wanders from window to window, from cypress to cypress.
Klimt’s last journey to Italy
In the summer of 1913 Klimt travelled to Italy for the last time, together with the Flöge family – the family of Emilie Flöge, his lifelong companion. From 31 July to 10 September they stayed at Lake Garda. The countryside and the small towns along the shore inspired the only landscapes Klimt ever painted outside Austria.
Cassone is a village on the eastern shore of Lake Garda and belongs to the municipality of Malcesine. Klimt painted three Garda landscapes that summer: Italian Garden Landscape, Church in Cassone, and a view of Malcesine that has been lost since 1945. So this painting is one of only two of his Italian landscapes that you can still see today, which makes it special for anyone who loves Lake Garda or Klimt’s summer work.
Why is there no sky in the painting?
Because Klimt wanted the village itself to become a pattern. For most of his landscapes he chose a square canvas and moved close, leaving out the horizon, so that houses, trees or water spread over the whole surface like a woven fabric. Here the rows of windows, the white walls and the dark verticals of the cypresses build a rhythm that is almost as decorative as the patterns in his portraits.
The colours are those of a bright southern summer: cool blues and greys in the shadows, warm ochre on the sunny walls, deep green in the trees, a fresh blue-green in the lake. Nothing is loud, yet the whole canvas glows. The painting can feel like a holiday memory – a quiet, sunlit afternoon on the lake that you can hang on your own wall.
Where is the original?
The original, painted in oil on canvas and 110 cm square, is in a private collection. It was sold at Sotheby’s in London in 2010, so it is not on public display in a museum. The Klimt Foundation in Vienna describes his Italian journeys, including the Lake Garda summer of 1913, in its online Klimt database.
Because the original hangs in a private home, a hand-painted version is the only way for most people to live with this view of Cassone. Our version is not a print: we paint it for you, by hand, in the size you choose.
Church in Cassone among Klimt’s landscapes
In our gallery you can place Church in Cassone beside its Lake Garda twin, Italian Garden Landscape, painted the same summer. From the Austrian summers come Apple Tree I, a tree heavy with red apples above a flowering meadow, and Forest of Beech Trees, with its rhythm of slim trunks; The Park is a wall of dense green foliage.
Church in Cassone is the only one of these with buildings and with water. Choose it if you like architecture, Italy and a light, Mediterranean mood; if you prefer pure nature, the beech forest or the apple tree may suit you better. More about Klimt’s life is on Wikipedia’s Klimt page.
How do we paint Church in Cassone by hand?
The painter first draws the main lines on the canvas: the edge of the water, the outline of the church and its tower, the position of every cypress and the blocks of the houses. Then the large areas go on in thin layers – white and blue-grey walls, ochre façades, the green of bushes and trees, the blue-green lake.
After that come the details that make the village come alive: the small dark windows, one by one, the shadows under the roofs, the darker strokes inside the cypresses, and finally the short ripples on the water. A printed oil painting reproduction flattens all of those touches into one smooth surface; painted by hand, each stroke keeps its own body and catches the light. Every painting is a hand-painted copy made for your order, so no two are quite alike.
There is no gold in this landscape, and none in our version: we use oil colours only, as in the original.
Which size for which wall?
In short: 60 x 60 or 70 x 70 cm for a small wall, a hallway or a kitchen; 80 x 80 or 90 x 90 cm above a chest of drawers or in a bedroom; 100 x 100 or 110 x 110 cm above a sofa; and 120 x 120 or 150 x 150 cm for a large wall or an open-plan room. The 110 x 110 cm size is the size of the original.
All eight sizes are square, just like Klimt’s canvas, so nothing is cropped. The many small windows and cypresses read best when the painting is not too small, so if you have the space, choose 90 x 90 cm or more. As a painting for the living room, 110 x 110 cm gives the village the same presence as the original above a three-seat sofa. In a dining room it brings the feeling of an Italian holiday to the table.
Hang it with the centre of the canvas about 150 to 160 cm above the floor; over furniture, leave 20 to 30 cm between the top of the furniture and the lower edge of the canvas. As a rule of thumb, a painting above a sofa looks best at about two thirds of the sofa’s width.
Custom size, stretcher and frame
If none of the eight sizes fits your wall, we paint it to measure; keep it square, or close to square, so the village is not stretched. Send us the width and height you want and we will quote the price and delivery time. Every painting we make is stretched on a wooden stretcher frame and ready to hang.
For the moulding, use our 3D application: it shows every one of our frame profiles on this subject, so you can compare gold, silver, black, white and natural wood before deciding – the application is for choosing the frame only. If you would like to see how the painting will look on your own wall, that is our separate room placement service. A light natural wood or white frame suits the sunny walls of the village; a thin dark frame makes the cypresses and the lake look deeper.
Delivery and guarantee
Every painting is made to order in our studio in Slovenia, so allow 15 to 45 days depending on the size you choose. We ship it stretched and protected for transport, framed if you chose a frame, across the EU with no customs. Before dispatch you receive a photograph of the finished work to approve; if anything is not right, we correct it while the canvas is still in our workshop. Our returns policy applies to every order.
If it is a gift and you are not sure of the size, there is our gift voucher. More of Klimt’s work is in our Gustav Klimt gallery, and more about the painter in our article 10 interesting facts about Gustav Klimt.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the original Church in Cassone by Klimt?
The original is in a private collection. It was sold at Sotheby’s in London in 2010 and is not shown in a public museum, so most people know it only from reproductions. It is painted in oil on canvas and measures 110 cm square, the same as our 110 x 110 cm size.
When did Klimt paint Church in Cassone?
Klimt painted it in 1913, during his last journey to Italy. He travelled with the Flöge family and stayed at Lake Garda from 31 July to 10 September of that year. The lakeside villages inspired the only landscapes he ever painted outside Austria, and this view of Cassone is one of them.
Where is Cassone, the village in the painting?
Cassone is a small village on the eastern shore of Lake Garda in northern Italy, and it belongs to the municipality of Malcesine. In the painting you see its houses climbing a hillside from the water, its church with a bell tower and the tall cypresses typical of the Garda shore.
What does Klimt’s Church in Cassone show?
It shows a hillside village seen from the lake: white, blue-grey and ochre houses with small dark windows, a church with a large roof and bell tower at the top left, tall dark cypresses and round green bushes. A band of rippling blue-green water runs along the bottom, and there is no sky.
Did Klimt paint other Lake Garda landscapes besides Cassone?
Yes, two more in the same summer of 1913. Italian Garden Landscape shows a flower garden on the lake, and a view of Malcesine has been lost since 1945. That makes Church in Cassone one of only two Italian landscapes by Klimt that survive, and both are available in our gallery as hand-painted versions.
Is there gold in Church in Cassone?
No, there is no gold in this landscape. It is painted in natural colours – white, blue-grey, ochre, green and the blue-green of the lake – and its glow comes from the many small strokes and the bright walls, not from metal leaf. We therefore paint our version in oil colours only, without gold paint.
Which size of Church in Cassone suits my wall?
For a small wall, a hallway or a kitchen, 60 x 60 or 70 x 70 cm works well. Above a chest of drawers or a bed choose 80 x 80 or 90 x 90 cm, above a sofa 100 x 100 or 110 x 110 cm, and for a large wall 120 x 120 or 150 x 150 cm. The 110 x 110 cm size equals the original.
Which room suits Church in Cassone?
It suits a living room, a dining room, a hallway or a study – anywhere you want light, holiday colours and a touch of Italy. As a canvas painting it pairs well with white, sand or terracotta walls, light wood and linen. It is a lovely choice for anyone who has spent a summer at Lake Garda and wants to keep the memory.
Is Church in Cassone a good gift?
Yes, especially for someone who loves Italy, Lake Garda or Klimt’s landscapes rather than his famous gold. The square format fits almost any wall, and the subject is calm and cheerful. If you are not sure of the size, choose 80 x 80 cm, which fits most homes, or give a voucher so the recipient can choose.
- Subject: a hillside village on Lake Garda with a church and bell tower, white and ochre houses, dark cypresses and a band of blue-green water.
- Original: 1913, oil on canvas, 110 x 110 cm, private collection.
- Our version: a Klimt reproduction painted by hand in oil on canvas, in eight square sizes or made to measure.
- Good to know: before dispatch you receive a photograph of the finished work for approval.
