Theodore Duclère

(Naples in 1812 – 1869)

He was born in Naples in 1812 to French parents; he attended the Neapolitan school of art at Posillipo, which had gathered around Antonio Pitloo’s atelier, and became his master’s most faithful pupil, whose daughter Sophia he married, inheriting part of his father-in-law’s collection, which is now in the museum. In those same years he developed a deep friendship with Giacinto Gigante and together with Vianelli and Carelli, Duclère can be considered among the most delicate Neapolitan landscape painters of the first half of the 19th century.

Duclère’s paintings take up the usual themes of Neapolitan vedute, with a particular fondness for views of the Sorrento coastline.

However, he gave better proof of himself in the production of small landscape studies conducted from life on individual natural motifs and characterised by striking colouristic effects of immediate optical appeal. In these works, the lesson of Pitloo is evident, which also persists in his later works, where the influence of Giacinto Gigante can also be felt in the choice of cuts and framing and especially in the more studiously illustrative tone of the description.

He died in Naples in 1869, aged only 57.