Isle of Capri: The Faraglioni,

1870s

The Faraglioni is the collective name for three "stacks"—steep rock columns isolated by erosion from nearby coastline—rising to a height of three hundred feet off the coast of the Italian island of Capri. They represented ideal subjects for Haseltine, whose fascination with rock formations was rooted in a broader interest in geology. Following extensive delineations of the New England coastline, Haseltine focused his attention on Italy, eventually settling in Rome. In response to the grandeur of the surrounding scenery, and to an increased preoccupation with light effects, his work took on a more sweeping, dramatic scale. In The Faraglioni the diminutive boats and figures invest the depicted rocks—set in a colorful, glassy sea—with a heightened power and exotic presence, at once distinct and descended from the artist’s earlier, more literal productions. As a visitor to his studio in 1870 noted, "No one can give you a more poetical version on canvas of this southern Italian seashore than Haseltine."