Description
Frank Duveneck loved Venice and spent several months there during the early decades of his career. Titled The Venetian Girl, this painting depicts a young woman—likely an artist’s model—who holds a shallow brass bowl containing lemons and grapes.
Provenance
The artist; Frank Boott Duveneck [1886–1986] , his son, by inheritance; Charles Duveneck [1871–1946], his half-uncle; [Knoedler Galleries, New York, by consignment]; The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, purchased in 1922 with funds provided by Josephine Pettingill Everett
Accession Number
1922.173
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
Unframed: 86.7 x 62.6 cm (34 1/8 x 24 5/8 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Henry A. Everett for the Dorothy Burnham Everett Memorial Collection
Tags
Painting Impressionist & Modern (1851–1900) Oil Painting Canvas American
Background & Context
Background Story
Frank Duveneck (1848-1919) was an American painter known for the brilliantly executed, atmospheric paintings of Venetian subjects that make him one of the most important American painters of the late 19th century. The Venetian Girl from c. 1880 depicts a Venetian girl in the brilliantly executed, atmospheric manner that distinguishes Duveneck's best Venetian work from the more conventional painting of his contemporaries. Duveneck studied in Munich and then settled in Venice and Florence, where he produced the brilliantly executed, atmospheric paintings that made him one of the most admired American painters in Europe, and the c. 1880 date places this in his most productive Venetian period.
Cultural Impact
The Venetian Girl is important in the history of American painting because it demonstrates the brilliantly executed, atmospheric manner that Duveneck brought to Venetian subjects as one of the most admired American painters in Europe. Duveneck's Venetian paintings—combining the brilliant technique he developed in Munich with the atmospheric effect of Venice—represent one of the most accomplished traditions in American painting in Europe, and the c. 1880 painting shows this tradition at its most brilliant.
Why It Matters
The Venetian Girl is Duveneck's brilliant Venetian painting: a Venetian girl rendered in the atmospheric manner of one of the most admired American painters in Europe. The c. 1880 painting shows the combination of Munich technique with Venetian atmosphere that made Duveneck one of the most important American painters working in Europe.
