Description
Afternoon in Naples – the early, audacious Cézanne
Afternoon in Naples is a work of Cézanne’s early years, when he painted far more directly and provocatively than in the late still lifes and landscapes. Two nudes lie on a white sheet while a dark-skinned servant brings them a drink on a tray and draws back a curtain with her other hand. The canvas is held by the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra. Our hand-painted reproduction on canvas brings this scene into your home, painted in oil on canvas.
A title that is not a description of a place
Cézanne was never in Naples. The title under which we know the work today is later and denotes not a setting but a mood – the scene is imagined, not observed. The painter carried the subject through in several versions, and some sources list it as The Rum Punch. This is a case where titles diverge between collections; here we follow the naming of the gallery that holds the work.
Why a Cézanne like this was unacceptable
In the 1870s a scene like this was impossible for the Paris Salon: not because of the nudity itself, which was entirely acceptable in mythological dress, but because here there is no mythological pretext at all. Cézanne was rejected repeatedly in this period and was held to be a coarse, even savage painter. Only later did his manner settle into the considered construction by which we know him.
The early, audacious Cézanne at home
In the photographs above you can see our hand-painted reproduction of this painting. We paint this scene entirely by hand, in oil on canvas; it is not a print but a genuine work of art. Ten sizes or your own measurements, as suits you. Given the subject, it is worth placing in a more private room than a living room. Try the frame in our app’s realistic 3D preview. Among our hand-painted oil reproductions you will find Cézanne’s other figure compositions: The Abduction, The Large Bathers (Barnes) and A Modern Olympia.
- Subject: Afternoon in Naples, Paul Cézanne, 1872–1875, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
- Technique: hand-painted painting, oil on canvas, reproduction
- Sizes: 10 formats, stretched on a wooden stretcher frame on request, or made to your measurements
- Fact: Cézanne was never in Naples – the title describes a mood, not a place
