Nicolino Calyo
View of the Ruins after the Great Fire in New York, 1835

ArtistAmerican, born Italy, 1799–1884
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • View of the Ruins after the Great Fire in New York, 1835
Date1837
Place depictedNew York, United States
MediumGouache on wove paper
Dimensions11 1/4 × 15 1/2 in. (28.6 × 39.4 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, museum purchase funded by C. Berdon Lawrence, Mark Lawrence, Charles B. Lawrence, Jr., and David Mitchell in honor of Rolanette Lawrence on the occasion of her birthday at "One Great Night in November, 2012"
Object numberB.2013.4
Non exposé

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Department
Bayou Bend
Description

Born into an aristocratic family, Nicolino Calyo fled his home in Naples, Italy, in the 1830s during the political and social uprisings of the unification movement. In the United States, he found a welcome audience for his sophisticated, academically trained style. His degree of skill and polish had rarely been known on this side of the Atlantic, and Calyo was quick to capitalize on it. New York lent itself perfectly to Calyo’s stock-in-trade: close observation of people and places, meticulously rendered in the precise topographical tradition of his fellow countrymen Canaletto and Francesco Guardi.

These two dramatic, contrasting views by Nicolino Calyo of the Great Fire in New York in 1835 and its aftermath depict one of the most cataclysmic events in the history of the city (B.2013.3). Seventeen blocks on the southeast tip of Manhattan were destroyed. Calyo’s series of paintings was popularized through aquatints by William James Bennett that brought the artist considerable acclaim.


Provenance[Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York]; purchased by MFAH, 2013.
Exhibition HistoryKennedy Galleries, New York. "The Kennedy Quarterly: Early American Views 1700–1880" (1963), nos.311 and 312.

Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland, and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1967, "American Paintings and Historical Prints from the Middendorf Collection," nos. 17a and 17b.

Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 1969, "The American Scene," nos. 7a and 7b.

Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 1991, "Neo-Classicism in America: Inspiration and Innovation," 1810–1840, nos. 33a and 33b.

Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 2011–12, "The World of Duncan Phyfe: The Arts of New York," 1800–1847, nos. 97B and 97C.

"Duncan Phyfe: Master Cabinetmaker in New York," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, June 24–September 9, 2012.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Inscribed in black gouache at lower edge left: "N. Caylo, N. York 1837."
Verso lower edge right, brown ink: "Viewsof the ruins after Great Fire in New York Dec. 16th & 17th, 1835 // as seen from Exchange Place."
Verso bottom right in graphite: "D1069 // A77625 (crossed out) // UXXA PR"

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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View of the Great Fire in New York, 1835
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1837
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