At the Fountain

Cesare Agostino Detti · 1887

Medium

Oil on canvas, mounted on board

Original size

121.5 × 86.8 cm (47 3/4 × 34 1/8 in.); Framed: 165.8 × 130.9 × 14 cm (65 1/4 × 51 1/2 × 5 1/2 in.)

Currently held

Art Institute of Chicago

Movement

Impressionism

At the Fountain is a refined example of the late nineteenth-century taste for elegant, narrative genre painting — intimate in scale, yet rich in observed detail. Cesare Agostino Detti was an Italian-born painter who built his reputation in Paris, where he became celebrated for scenes depicting aristocratic leisure rendered in an 18th-century idiom. His figures are always immaculately costumed, his surfaces polished to a finish that rewards close looking. Working in oil on canvas mounted on board, Detti brought a jeweller's precision to fabric, light on stone, and the subtle language of social interaction — hallmarks that made him a favourite among Salon audiences and private collectors alike. Detti's work found particular favour with American collectors in the Gilded Age, which is how a number of his paintings came to rest in US institutions, including the Art Institute of Chicago. This hand-painted oil reproduction is made by a skilled artist working directly from the original, matching the composition, palette, and tonal depth that Detti achieved in 1887. The result is a faithful, living piece of craftsmanship — not a print, not a facsimile, but a painting made with the same materials and care as the work that inspired it.