1073 - ALBERT MARQUET (Bordeaux, 1875 – Paris, 1947) Attributed - View of Venice

ALBERT MARQUET (Bordeaux, 1875 – Paris, 1947) Attributed - View of Venice Oil on rigid cardboard. Dimensions: 73 x 50.5 cm. Frame: 92 x 69 cm. Albert Marquet was one of the most distinctive figures of French Post-Impressionism and one of the most prominent members of the Fauvist circle, although he soon developed his own style characterized by greater chromatic restraint and a special sensitivity toward cityscapes, ports, and seascapes. This work depicts a view of the entrance to the Grand Canal in Venice, with the monumental silhouette of the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute dominating the horizon. Its attribution to the French artist is based on a series of stylistic characteristics fully consistent with his Italian works from 1908–1909, a period corresponding to his first trip to Italy with Henri Manguin. Although traditional scholarship has focused primarily on Marquet’s stays in Venice in the 1930s, more recent research has confirmed his presence in Venice as early as 1908 and 1909—dates with which this painting shares a remarkable stylistic affinity. The composition features a restrained and nuanced palette, dominated by softly modulated shades of gray, blue, and pink, moving away from the intense chromaticism of early Fauvism and heralding the artist’s mature pictorial style. The expansive water surfaces are rendered with serene yet vibrant textures, while the boats appear to be rendered with rapid, almost calligraphic brushstrokes. The humid, diffuse atmosphere, the simplification of architectural masses, and the ability to dissolve forms into mist are characteristic features of Marquet’s work from 1907 to 1910. The view also features a distinctly Marquetian composition, with a high horizon, diagonal movement of boats, and a quiet architectural monumentality that organizes the entire pictorial space. These characteristics find close parallels in Italian works from the same period, such as *La Baie de Naples*, *Le Port de Naples*, and *Le Vésuve*, ...