(active 1778–1788)
Outside a Tavern,
oil on canvas, 125 x 103.5 cm, framed

We are grateful to Ermanno Bellucci for suggesting the attribution on the basis of a high resolution digital photograph and for his help in cataloguing the present painting.

Little is known about Jacques Beys´ life despite the fact that he was once regarded as one of the most important and talented artists active in Naples in late 18th Century. He specialized in painting genre scenes mainly for visitors who came to Naples on the Grand Tour to see the city, the antiquities, the landscape, and Vesuvius.

According to a guide for travelers Voyage d‘Italie written by Monsieur de Saint-Quentin in 1778-1779 in which the author provides the reader useful information about the city of Naples only three painters are metioned: Pierre Jacques Volaire, Pietro Fabris and Jacques Beys. Monsieur de Saint-Quentin reports that: “Il y a un nommé Beys peintre francois qui est excelent et le meilleur qui soit à Naples, puor peindre les costumes du pays […] lui il est singulier et un peu fol”, he was regarded as the best painter of genre scenes and everyday life in Naples.

Jacques Beys was one of the artists invited to join Gustav III, King of Sweden during his Italian Grand Tour. Documented trace of this collaboration, which lasted from 1784 until at least 1788, is reported in the travel journals written by the curator of the royal art collections of the Swedish court, Karl Fredrik Fredenheim. Fredenheim acquired two paintings by Beys for Gustavo III: The view of the bay of Naples from Capodimonte and The Bay of Naples view from the slopes of Mount Vesuvius, which are in the National Museum of Fine Arts in Stockholm.