Felix Ziem (1821-1911), French
Venice, 1879
OIL ON PANEL, 20 ½ x 32 ¾ inches
Gift of Mrs. Theodora Willard Best

Felix Ziem's Venice exemplifies the dream-like evocations of reality for which he became famous. During his long career, the artist visited the historic city on more than twenty occasions and painted it hundreds of times. Here he portrays Venice's Lagoon, looking toward the Grand Canal with the Campanile in St. Mark's Square and the Doge's Palace visible at the right-hand side of the composition. Ziem's artistic ambition was to distill the poetic essence of the place, rather than to document the site in great detail or with immediacy, differentiating his art from that of the French impressionists.