By the sea
| Support Type: | Canvas |
| Paint Type: | Oil Paint |
| Current Location: | Private collection |
| Location History: | 2026: Featured in The Macchiaioli exhibition at the Palazzo Reale in Milan. 2022–2023: Displayed at I Macchiaioli in Palazzo BLU, Pisa. |
The painting Vincenzo Cabianca – By the Sea (1864) is a seashore landscape suitable for the preference of the Macchiaioli movement since it reveals their inclination towards natural light, atmosphere and natural depiction of daily life. The painting includes people who stand at the seashore. The painter uses strong shapes and tonal contrast to portray sunlight in the seashore landscape. Unlike other paintings, the painter does not depict the reality in this painting but rather aims to reveal the mood created by the natural light. It is a picture that shows the shift from the academic manner of painting to the outdoor sketching when the activity of a brush and the atmospheric influence have a great importance. In this particular example, the sea is not only a background of the picture, but it also becomes one of its main components that affect the painting atmosphere in general. “By the Sea” is a piece of art that shows the contemplation of the beauty of nature.