Lot Essay
Le Sidaner made his first trip to Venice in 1892. In the long tradition of his artistic forebears, this beautiful city made an everlasting impression on the 30 year-old artist. On this first visit, Le Sidaner was struck by works of the early Renaissance in museums in the floating city and in Florence, and particularly those by Fra Angelico, whose influence was stylistically palpable on Le Sidaner's artistic output following his return to France. These early paintings were Symbolist in nature with a dominant emphasis on the figure. The change towards his more signature style came about in 1896 when his preoccupation with capturing the effect of light became all consuming and he began experimenting with the Impressionist technique as an effective means to fully explore that. Naturally Le Sidaner knew and revered the work of Claude Monet, the leading proponent of the Impressionist movement, as he later recalled: 'I was lucky enough to spend a day with the Master of Giverny in the setting created by the recluse for his moments of joy and wonder...It was indeed moving to hear from the mouth of that celebrated artist, already into his eighties, the words of a worker who would the next day resume the struggle to master a new kind of light' (the artist, 'De la lumière et de la couleur', 1935, quoted in op.cit., p. 35).
Interestingly, Le Sidaner's depictions of Venice preceded those by Monet who made his only visit to the city in autumn 1908. Le Sidaner returned to Venice in 1906 and again in 1907 and was entranced by the coloristic possibilities that the city offered. 'Another surprise may well await us when we set foot in Venice having crossed the Grand Canal by gondola and in late afternoon end up at Saint Mark's, the Piazetta and the Ducal Palace, the fleshy color of which is gilded by the last rays of the sun. You probably remember the description of the fiery spectacle in The Flame by D'Annunzio in which the impression is heightened by the sound of bells ringing from all the churches in peals laid one upon the other, reflected in the dying accents of the flames flung by the sun on the fine buildings, and duplicated in the shifting reflections of the waters' (the artist, 'De la lumière et de la couleur', 1935, quoted in ibid, p. 109).
Having been appointed as an officer of La Légion d'Honneur in January 1914, Le Sidaner set out in April for Venice where, at that year's Biennale, he was to be honored with an entire room in which to show his recent works. Venice was a city and a subject to which Le Sidaner returned throughout his career, perhaps inspired by Monet's and Whistler's celebrated and atmospheric renderings of La Serenissima. Indeed, his last recorded work, found after his death in his studio at Versailles, was a painting of Venice executed from memory.
Interestingly, Le Sidaner's depictions of Venice preceded those by Monet who made his only visit to the city in autumn 1908. Le Sidaner returned to Venice in 1906 and again in 1907 and was entranced by the coloristic possibilities that the city offered. 'Another surprise may well await us when we set foot in Venice having crossed the Grand Canal by gondola and in late afternoon end up at Saint Mark's, the Piazetta and the Ducal Palace, the fleshy color of which is gilded by the last rays of the sun. You probably remember the description of the fiery spectacle in The Flame by D'Annunzio in which the impression is heightened by the sound of bells ringing from all the churches in peals laid one upon the other, reflected in the dying accents of the flames flung by the sun on the fine buildings, and duplicated in the shifting reflections of the waters' (the artist, 'De la lumière et de la couleur', 1935, quoted in ibid, p. 109).
Having been appointed as an officer of La Légion d'Honneur in January 1914, Le Sidaner set out in April for Venice where, at that year's Biennale, he was to be honored with an entire room in which to show his recent works. Venice was a city and a subject to which Le Sidaner returned throughout his career, perhaps inspired by Monet's and Whistler's celebrated and atmospheric renderings of La Serenissima. Indeed, his last recorded work, found after his death in his studio at Versailles, was a painting of Venice executed from memory.