Camille Pissarro (1830–1903), Saint Thomas, Virgin Islands
A Plaza in Caracas, 1854–1858
Oil on canvas
Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros
Painted during the first four years he lived in France, A Plaza in Caracas is the last and most complete of Pissarro’s Venezuelan landscapes. His Caribbean nationality, combined with his lack of academic training or government sponsorship, distinguished him from other 19th-century traveler artists and gave him more creative freedom. In contrast, artists who worked for patrons were frequently obliged to focus on topography, scientific exactitude, and true to life rendering of the landscape and nature.