Giuseppe De Nittis (1846–1884) was born on 25 February 1846 in Barletta, in Apulia, in southern Italy. He received his first training from the local painter Giambattista Calò and in 1861 entered the Istituto di Belle Arti in Naples. In 1867 he visited Florence, where he met the Macchiaioli and became a close friend of Telemaco Signorini.
He went on to make his career in Paris, where he painted lively scenes of the city, from the Bois de Boulogne to the street. His friend Degas invited him to show with the Impressionists, and in 1874 he exhibited five paintings at their first exhibition, in the studio of the photographer Nadar. His work blends the polish of Salon painting with the light touch of Impressionism, and he was awarded the Légion d’honneur.
De Nittis died suddenly at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, in August 1884, at the age of 38. His widow donated many of his paintings to his native town, and they are now in the Pinacoteca De Nittis in Barletta. The first exhibition devoted to him in the United States was held at the Phillips Collection in Washington in 2022–23.