The Canals of Venice

Martin Rico y Ortega, (Spanish, 1833-1908) Venetian Canal on a Sunny Afternoon Oil on canvas 29 ¾ x 19 7/8 in. (75.6 x 50.5 cm.) Private collection Martín Rico y Ortega (12 November 1833, El Escorial – 13 April 1908, Venice, Italy)  was a Spanish painter of landscapes and cityscapes. Rico was one of the most important artists of the second half of the nineteenth century in his native country, and enjoyed wide international recognition. Rico was born in Madrid and received his earliest formal training at the city’s Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, where he studied under Jenaro Pérez Villaamil. In 1860, having been awarded a government-sponsored scholarship, Rico moved to Paris to continue his studies. His landscapes depict the French and Swiss countryside in a fully accomplished Realist style. Toward the end of 1870, due to political and social unrest caused by the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, Rico decided to leave France and return to his