A beautiful rendering of an Italian Mediterranean village at night, this oil on canvas was painted by Nicola Ascione. The clear grayish-blue sky hovers over a gently sloping hill lined with buildings and a visible mountain in the background. Ascione dotted the landscape with splashes of color, such as the yellow and orange hues depicting illuminated windows of the houses closest to the shore, even showing the light in the reflection of the water. The horizontal painting is enclosed by a giltwood frame embellished with shallowly carved cavitations of various sizes along the outer edges and solid molding along the interior. In between the layers of gilding is a slender and recessed red molding surrounding a brown cavetto molding.

Nicola Ascione was born in Italy in 1870. Originally from the Neopolitan commune of Torre del Greco, Ascione had a very productive career, producing many paintings that can be found across Europe and even the United States. The subjects of Ascione’s paintings ranged from still life to portraits, but most of his works seemed to center around city landscapes and architectural illustrations.

CONDITION: Good condition with light craquelure and minor wear to canvas. Slight loss of gilding to frame, which is rigged for hanging. Signed in the lower right corner “N. Ascione”.