Santa Maria a Cetrella, Anacapri

William Stanley Haseltine

National Gallery of Art

This painting shows a dilapidated white building placed atop rugged, rocky terrain, a blue body of water visible in the distance below. The building is surrounded by a wall that slopes diagonally downward with the face of the mountain. The wall is mostly white, but the plaster appears to have fallen off in places, exposing red bricks. In other places, there are deep cracks or vines creeping across the surface. The walls of the building behind are also cracked, and it has a small white tower and two round domes. The painting is lit dramatically, with the reddish-gray rocks nearest to us in shadow, and the building lit by bright light. The water near the top right corner is a deep blue, and the sky above scene is blue with some fluffy white clouds.