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Charles Seely, M.P. for Lincoln and a wealthy corn-merchant from that city commissioned Birket Foster to paint 50 watercolours of Venetian subjects having seen an example of his work at Agnew's. The commission fee was £5000, making it the largest commission he ever received and one he was working on from 1871-1877 (see J. Reynolds, Birket Foster, Frome and London, 1984, pp. 136-7). According to Reynolds (op. cit., p. 200) the collection was dispersed soon after 1928 with only two watercolour remaining in the family (one of those being lot 167). It has not been possible to prove that lots 165 and 166 were commissioned by Seely but the titles can be compared to two works listed by Reynolds as commissioned by Seely and it is therefore highly likely.

Myles Birket Foster, R.W.S. (1825-1899)

Canale dell'Ospitale and the Scuola di San Marco, Venice

Details

Myles Birket Foster, R.W.S. (1825-1899)
Canale dell'Ospitale and the Scuola di San Marco, Venice
signed with monogram 'BF' (lower right)
pencil and watercolour, heightened with bodycolour
8 x 12 in. (20.3 x 30.5 cm)

Provenance

Possibly Charles Seely, M.P.

Literature

Possibly J. Reynolds, Birket Foster, Frome and London, 1984, p. 200.

Exhibited

Possibly, Nottingham Castle Museum and Art Gallery, Special Loan Exhibition of Pictures of the British School in Oils and Water-colours, 1896, no. 83.
Possibly Newcastle, Laing Art Gallery, Special Loan Exhibition of Works by Birket Foster, 1925, no. 57.

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Lot Essay

The present watercolour depicts the bridge over the Canal dell'Ospitale on the edge of Campo San Zanipolo (a contraction of Santi Giovanni e Paolo). The square is considered the most impressive open space in Venice after Piazza San Marco, dominated by the huge brick church of San Zanipolo and Ruskin as described is as 'the richest monument of the Gothic period in Venice'. The building to the right of the composition is the Scuola di San Marco.

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