William Staples Drown (American, 1856–1915) Venice Impressionist C. 1898

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William Staples Drown Venice Canal With Mooring Boat, 1898

Oil on canvas landscape by William Staples Drown (American, 1856–1915), signed … Read more William Staples Drown Venice Canal With Mooring Boat, 1898

Oil on canvas landscape by William Staples Drown (American, 1856–1915), signed and dated 1898 at the lower left, presenting an intimate Venetian canal view animated by a single moored boat resting in still water beneath a low brick bridge. The composition is carefully structured in depth, with softened architectural forms, warm rooflines, and leafy embankments guiding the eye toward the distant passageway, while the canal’s mirrored surface captures the muted palette in veils of green, brown, and pearl-gray. Painted with loose, confident brushwork and an Impressionist-inflected sensitivity to atmosphere, the scene conveys the quiet, suspended mood of Venice away from the grand ceremonial routes, favoring an everyday vignette of working waterways and aged masonry. The work remains housed in a substantial gilded and bronzed molding with beaded liner, and the reverse retains period framing and gallery labels, including Providence Picture Frame Co. and Dryden Galleries Ltd., reflecting later 20th-century American presentation and distribution consistent with how turn-of-the-century travel pictures were collected and framed.

Measurements: 13.5 in. w x 17.5 in. h. See less