Henner's stay at the Villa Medici, between 1859 and 1864, enabled him to discover Italy, then in the process of unification. Between August and October 1862, he stayed in the Naples region, to which he returned in July 1864. Here, he was as interested in landscapes as in the remains of antiquity.
In his landscapes, presumably painted from the motif, Henner used a light palette that he would not retain thereafter, and did not seek picturesqueness or effect.
I saw Vesuvius smoking for the first time, and was quite moved.
Jean-Jacques Henner to his brother Grégoire (September 12, 1862)
