Birthday Greetings from Venice!
Painter Frank Duveneck was born in Kentucky on this day in 1848 and, like many American artists, studied and worked in Europe.Frank Duveneck's Water Carriers, Venice is the kind of scene that delights tourists: handsome Venetians in native costumes pose before a sweeping view of the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, the Dogana, and Santa Maria della Salute, visible through the bright haze of the Venetian sky. The special beauty of Venice—its architectural monuments, the shimmering reflections of its waters, and its bustling street life, which have inspired generations of artists, also became favorite themes for many American painters and etchers in the late nineteenth century. From 1883 to 1885, Duveneck spent most of his time in Venice.
Source: National Museum of American Art (CD-ROM) (New York and Washington D.C.: MacMillan Digital in cooperation with the National Museum of American Art, 1996).
Pictured: Frank Duveneck, 1848–1919, Water Carriers, Venice, 1884, oil, 48 3/8 x 73 1/8 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Rev. F. Ward Denys.
Painter Frank Duveneck was born in Kentucky on this day in 1848 and, like many American artists, studied and worked in Europe.Frank Duveneck's Water Carriers, Venice is the kind of scene that delights tourists: handsome Venetians in native costumes pose before a sweeping view of the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, the Dogana, and Santa Maria della Salute, visible through the bright haze of the Venetian sky. The special beauty of Venice—its architectural monuments, the shimmering reflections of its waters, and its bustling street life, which have inspired generations of artists, also became favorite themes for many American painters and etchers in the late nineteenth century. From 1883 to 1885, Duveneck spent most of his time in Venice.