Lot 8

The Artist
Private collection, Melbourne
Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 21 April 1998, lot 254 (as "A Venetian Scene")
Private collection, Melbourne

RELATED WORK:
Arthur Streeton, The Palace of the Doges c.1908, oil on canvas, 50.6 x 76.5cm, Private collection

Arthur Streeton's 'A Venetian Scene' c.1908 encapsulates the atmospheric brilliance and lyrical light of Venice at the turn of the century. Painted during the artist's honeymoon in 1908, the work reflects a period of personal joy and creative renewal. Streeton married Canadian violinist Nora Clench in London earlier that year and their travels through Italy became a catalyst for some of his most evocative European artworks. In particular, the time spent in Venice in love and as a newly married couple, resulted in a renowned group of works depicting the sights of the city known as 'La Serenissima'.

This delicate watercolour reveals Streeton's continued engagement with Impressionism and en plein air painting, practices that he advocated in Australia during the 1890s. The composition and subtle use of fluid colour demonstrate his skilful handling of watercolour, and the light washes of colour and transparent layers, allows the Venetian atmosphere to shimmer and the water to ripple. Streeton's quick, confident brushstrokes evoke the languid movement of gondolas, while the lilac palette of the buildings and the orange tones of the terracotta roofs, dissolve the architectural forms of the Doge's Palace and Bridge of Sighs into a luminous haze in the background.

This artwork is an example of Streeton's ability to transpose his celebrated Australian light into the European setting, creating a painting that is both topographical and poetic. It recalls the words of critic James MacDonald, who described Streeton's Venetian subjects as "records of light, water, and stone … in which colour and air are inseparable." (1) For centuries, writers and artists have remarked that the light is unique in Venice, the majestic city built on water and Streeton has certainly captured that feeling in his work. This notion is further highlighted in the London Observer in 1909, where the writer observed that "…Mr Streeton has caught the opalescence and glitter of the Venetian canals and marble palaces in moments of bright sunshine as few artists have done before him… he succeeds with delighting the eye and filling the heart with pleasure…". (2)

In Streeton's catalogue raisonné, there are over eighty paintings of Venice referenced, confirming how inspirational the city was for Streeton. During his stay in Venice, Streeton delighted in capturing the effects of shimmering light on the water and the Venetian buildings, producing numerous oils and watercolours, along with a series of pencil and wash sketches. These works on paper provided references for paintings that he later developed in the studio. (3) Looking closely at the subject and composition of this watercolour, a comparison can be made with one of Streeton's major oil paintings titled 'The Palace of the Doges' c.1908. In the painting, Streeton deploys a more structured and architectural approach, with the Doge's Palace taking centre stage and its gothic decoration is clearly articulated against the sky. By contrast, the watercolour privileges atmosphere over exactitude. The gondola and the resting gondolier in the foreground anchor the composition, leading the viewer's eye into a more intimate and immediate encounter with the scene. The looser handling and the softness of the watercolour medium lend the work an almost musical quality, perhaps Nora Clench's influence, where rhythm and harmony take precedence over architectural precision. The similar composition and vantage point to the 'The Palace of the Doges' and the evidence of compositional changes seen in pencil in the foreground, suggests that this work on paper may be a study for one of his major oil paintings of the Doge's Palace.

Following Streeton's departure from Venice, in March 1909, he exhibited a solo show of Venetian scenes alongside English landscapes at the Alpine Club Gallery in Savile Row, London. The exhibition was very well received by the London press and a few months later in July 1909, he opened the exhibition Arthur Streeton's Venice at the Guild Hall in Melbourne. Streeton's sojourn in Venice resulted in a significant body of artworks in 1908, including key paintings such as 'La Salute', 'The Grand Canal', 'The Palace of the Doges' and 'Evening Venice' and 'Evening Light'. These artworks epitomise his deep fascination with the interplay of water, light and reflection.

In the artwork 'A Venetian Scene', the pale blue and lilac expanse of the lagoon dominate the scene, acting as a mirror that reflects the gentle colour of the sky. Streeton uses the gondola as a framing device in this work, balancing the weight of the composition with a single gondola at rest in the lower right foreground. The figures are merely suggested in the distance, their gestures captured with a few brushstrokes and touches of colour. The dome of St Mark's Basilica rises softly in the background, its form almost dissolving into the surrounding sky. The result is an image that speaks less of topographical reportage and more of mood, an evocation of Venice's languid, floating world.

Amanda North
Senior Fine Art Specialist

(1) MacDonald, S, J., Arthur Streeton: Painter, 1867-1943, Sydney: Ure Smith, 1944, p. 56
(2) Observer, London, 4 April 1909, cited in Galbally, A., Arthur Streeton, Lansdowne Press, Melbourne, 1979, p. 71
(3) Smith, G., Arthur Streeton 1867-1943, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1995, p. 148