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A View of Venice
Thomas Moran (born Bolton, England 1837-died Santa Barbara, CA 1926)
1891
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Classification
- Paintings
- Dimensions
- 35 1/8 x 25 1/4 in. (89.2 x 64.1 cm.)
- Culture
- Italy
- Museum
- Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
- Rights
- CC0 (Smithsonian Open Access), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Smithsonian Institution
About this work
With rich colors and calligraphic brushstrokes, Thomas Moran dissolves the clouds, architecture, and reflections of Venice into a tapestry of swirls and scribbles. Moran built his reputation by painting dramatic records of the mountains and waterfalls of the American West. He then traveled to Italy to renew his creative spirit, first visiting in 1886. In this vista of the entrance to the Grand Canal, he takes artistic license with architecture and topography, making subtle adjustments so that other favorite sights, such as the Bridge of Sighs, are inaccurately visible. In 1890 Moran purchased an antique gondola so that he could continue indulging in this favorite Venetian experience on the pond near his home on Long Island, New York.
