07 Paintings of the Canals of Venice by the artists of their time, with foot notes. #9

Jean-Baptiste van Moer, BRUXELLES 1819 - 1884, ECOLE BELGE

THE GRAND CANAL, VENICE, c. 1879

Oil on canvas

130 x 197 cm ; 51 1/4 by 77 1/2 in

Private collection

The Grand Canal in Venice, Italy forms one of the major water-traffic corridors in the city. Public transport is provided by water buses and private water taxis, and many tourists explore the canal by gondola.

One end of the canal leads into the lagoon near the Santa Lucia railway station and the other end leads into Saint Mark Basin; in between, it makes a large reverse-S shape through the central districts of Venice. More Grand Canal

Jean-Baptiste Van Moer was born in Brussels in 1819 and died in the same city in 1884. He was the student of François Bossuet He participated in the International Exhibition of Paris of 1855 with the active support of the Belgian ambassador. The thoroughness of his landscape is spotted by Queen Victoria, who commissioned several drawings. This beginning allows him to travel throughout Europe. 

Back in Brussels, he built a workshop and a house on the edge of the Leopold Park and devotes himself to paint the houses of Old Brussels, being endangered by the vaulting of the Senne . The initiator of this work, the mayor Jules Anspach , asked him to decorate the town hall with fifteen views of neighborhoods before it disappeard. The Van Moer, in Brussels, was named after him, on the occasion of the extension of the rue Allard. More on Jean-Baptiste Van Moer

Félix-François-Georges-Philibert Ziem, BEAUNE 1821-PARIS 1911

VIEW OF VENICE WITH THE DOGE'S PALACE

Oil on canvas

54,5 x 72,5 cm ; 21 1/2 x 28 1/2 in.

Private collection

The Doge's Palace is a palace built in Venetian Gothic style, and one of the main landmarks of the city of Venice in northern Italy. The palace was the residence of the Doge of Venice, the supreme authority of the former Republic of Venice, opening as a museum in 1923. Today, it is one of the 11 museums run by the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia. More on The Doge's Palace

Félix Ziem (February 26, 1821 – November 10, 1911) was a French painter in the style of the Barbizon School. He was born Félix-Francois Georges Philibert Ziem in Beaune in the Côte-d'Or département of the Burgundy région of France. His mother was a native of Burgundy who had married an immigrant. Originally, Ziem planned to be an architect and studied at the School of Architecture in Dijon, and for a time he worked as an architect. In 1839 he moved to Marseilles, where he received some informal instruction in painting from Adolphe Monticelli. Painting developed from a hobby into a career following a visit in 1841 to Italy, where he fell in love with the city of Venice, a place that would become the source for many of his works, and to which he returned annually until 1892. Apart from Venetian scenes, he also painted many still lifes, portraits, and landscapes from a variety of places including Constantinople, Martigues, Cagnes-sur-Mer and his native Burgundy. More on Félix Ziem

VENICE, LATE 19TH CENTURY 

Venetian Capriccio. 

Oil on canvas. 

30.5 x 40.5 cm.

Private collection

Jean Baptiste Arthur Calame, (1843 Geneva 1919) 

View of Venice

Oil on canvas on cardboard. 

46 x 34 cm. 

Private collection

Jean Baptiste Arthur Calame was born in 1843.  He is the son of Alexandre Calame.

Between 1860 and 1864, Calame learned the art of painting.  Afterwards, he attended the Royal Art Academy in Dusseldorf, and took courses from Oswald Achenbach until 1867.  

He preferred to depict the Italian landscape in a kind of Achenbach manner.  His works have been represented at numerous exhibitions in Switzerland, Berlin, Dresden, Vienna, Dijon and Munich. More on Jean Baptiste Arthur Calame 

Ralph Wormeley Curtis, (1854–1922)
RETURN FROM THE LIDO, c. 1884
Oil on canvas
74 x 142 cm (29 1/8 x 55 7/8 in.)
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

The Lido, or Venice Lido, is an 11-kilometre (7-mile) long sandbar in Venice, northern Italy; it is home to about 20,000 residents. The Venice Film Festival takes place at the Lido every September.

The island is home to three settlements. The Lido itself, in the north, is home to the Film Festival, the Grand Hotel des Bains, the Venice Casino and the Grand Hotel Excelsior. Malamocco. It was at one time home to the Doge of Venice.  More on Lido

Ralph Wormeley Curtis (August 28, 1854, Boston - February 4, 1922, Beaulieu-sur-Mer) was an American painter and graphic artist in the Impressionist style. He spent most of his life in Europe, where he was a close associate of his distant cousin, John Singer Sargent, and James McNeill Whistler. He painted in a variety of genres, but was known mostly for landscapes and urban scenes; especially of Venice.

Upon graduating from Harvard, he convinced his parents to let him study art. He began at the Académie Julian in Paris. Upon completing his work there, he found a position in the studios of Carolus-Duran. It was there he first met John Singer Sargent, who would not only become a close friend, but also have a significant influence on his style.

In 1878, his parents moved to Europe. They settled in Venice. One of their frequent guests was James McNeill Whistler, who would also become Curtis' friend and influence his style. Meanwhile, he opened his own studio in Paris. In 1880.

From 1881 through 1893, he was a regular exhibitor at the Salon and, in 1889, received Honorable Mention at the Exposition Universelle. He also had showings at the Royal Academy of Arts, the Grosvenor Gallery and the Manchester Art Gallery. He apparently made little money from his paintings, however; relying on his family's wealth for support.

In 1897, he married Lisa de Wolfe Colt of Providence, who was related to the Colt firearms family. After the birth of their daughter, Sylvia, they moved to Beaulieu-sur-Mer, where they had two more children. He died there in 1922. More on Ralph Wormeley Curtis

Ralph Wormeley Curtis, (1854–1922)
Drifting with the Tide, c. 1884
Oil on canvas
64 x 94.5 cm
Private collection

Ralph Curtis’s painting of a gondola gliding through Venice must have held special meaning for Mrs. Gardner (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum). Like the woman depicted, she and Curtis spent many hours in each other’s company floating through the canals. The slight touch of purple through the sky and in the water, along with the mysterious faces of the woman and her gondolier, adds the perfect tone of languid, exotic atmosphere to the scene. More on Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Ralph Wormeley Curtis, see above

Ralph Wormeley Curtis,  (1854–1922)
The Bridge of Sighs, Venice
Oil on canvas
177.8 x 250.2 cm
Private collection

The Bridge of Sighs is an enclosed bridge made of white limestone. It has windows with stone bars, passes over the Rio di Palazzo, and connects the New Prison to the interrogation rooms in the Doge's Palace. 

The view from the Bridge of Sighs was the last view of Venice that convicts saw before their imprisonment. The bridge's name, given by Lord Byron, comes from the suggestion that prisoners would sigh at their final view of beautiful Venice through the window before being taken down to their cells. In reality, the days of inquisitions and summary executions were over by the time the bridge was built. More on The Bridge of Sighs

Ralph Wormeley Curtis, see above

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