In the hammock - III

In the Hammock — III, painted in 1884, is one of a series exploring a woman reclining in a garden hammock, exemplifying De Nittis's mastery of leisure, filtered garden light, and the interplay between figure and outdoor environment. The series belongs to his late Parisian years, after he had fully absorbed Impressionist compositional strategies including the radical viewpoints and fragmentary framing of Degas and the influence of Japanese prints. A figure in a hammock offered unusual formal qualities: the horizontal body, vertical surrounding foliage, and filtering of light through leaves above created the dappled effects that fascinated Monet and Renoir. De Nittis died in 1884, making this one of his final works, executed at the full maturity of his technique. The work is now in the Frugone Collection in Genoa.

The canvas exploits garden light filtered through overhead foliage, creating dappled warm-and-cool contrasts across figure and hammock fabric. Brushwork is energetic and varied — looser in the vegetation, more precise on the figure — with a high-keyed palette of greens and whites.