Description
Trees frame a view down a Mediterranean hillside toward a wide, pale blue bay, sailboats scattered near the far shore under a soft, cloud-streaked sky. Foliage in gold, green and rust crowds both sides of the canvas, opening in the centre onto the open water and distant coastline.
Painted in 1881 near Sorrento, on the Bay of Naples, the picture belongs to the sun-struck Italian landscapes Renoir made on his travels that year, the framing trees giving real depth to the view beyond them. The print keeps the pale, hazy blue of the bay luminous behind the more richly coloured foreground foliage.



