Venice

Artist Nathaniel Hone (1831 - 1917)

Datec.1891

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions64.8 x 97.8 cm

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineCollection & image © Hugh Lane Gallery. Donated by the artist, 1908.

Object number208

DescriptionThe city of Venice provided inspiration for many artists, not least for Canaletto and
Guardi in the 18th century, for Turner in the early 19th, and for Felix Ziem (1821-1911), the celebrated Orientalist and contemporary of Hone's. Hone met Ziem at Barbizon and is also known to have copied a Venetian scene by Ziem, who was principally known for his views of Venice bathed in warm pink, gold and blue light. Hone visited Venice in c.1891, en route for Greece and Egypt, and this painting and a small number of other oils and watercolours may have been painted then. Hone depicts the Doge's Palace and the Campanile of St. Mark's bathed in beautiful rosy light with the pale domes of St. Mark's Basilica just visible to the right. Also to the right are sailing boats, while to the far left, partially obscured by sails, is the dome of the church of Santa Maria della Salute. The depiction of the two gondolas in the foreground provides a point of focus to the picture, where the gondolier, in characteristic dress with shirt illuminated by evening light, gives human interest. A similar view can be seen in Ziem's painting Venise, le Palais des Doges (Petit Palais, Paris). Another picture of Venice by Hone in a private collection shows Venice from the same viewpoint, but the light is cooler, and sailing boats rather than gondolas are shown on the lagoon. None of Hone's Venice paintings seem to have been exhibited during his lifetime. (From: The Collection Revealed, Nathaniel Hone, p. 13)

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