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

Venice from the Giudecca

Details
Myles Birket Foster, R.W.S. (1825-1899)
Venice from the Giudecca
signed with monogram 'BF' (lower right)
pencil and watercolour with gum arabic heightened with bodycolour and with scratching out, on paper
24 x 36 in. (60.9 x 91.4 cm.)
Provenance
H.J. Carr; Christie's, London, 24 May 1889, lot 77 (245 gns to Tooth).
T.E. Beaumont; Christie's, London, 17 June 1899, lot 112 (420 gns to Maclean).
Barnet Lewis; Christie's, London, 3 March 1930, lot 220 (850 gns to Vicars).
with Vicars Brothers, London.
with Stacy-Marks, Eastbourne.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 10 June 1999, lot 32 (£240,250).
Literature
H.M. Cundall, Myles Birket Foster, London, 1906, illustrated facing p. 102.
F. Lewis, Myles Birket Foster 1825-1899, Leigh-on-Sea, 1973. p. 35.
J. Reynolds, Birket Foster, London, 1984, p. 197.
Exhibited
London, Royal Watercolour Society, 94th Exhibition, summer 1880, no. 24.
Sale room notice
Please note this watercolour sold for £69,700 in June 1999 and not as stated in the catalogue.

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Clare Keiller
Clare Keiller

Lot Essay

The present watercolour is probably the largest and most spectacular Venetian view executed by Birket Foster. The majority of his watercolours of Venice were painted for his largest commission, received in the early 1870s from the Lincolnshire corn merchant Charles Seely. Seely had seen a watercolour of Venice at Agnew's and was so taken with it that he paid Birket Foster the princely sum of £5,000 to paint 50 views of the city. According to available records, it appears that the majority of the watercolours measured circa 8 x 12 in. but the large size of the present work suggests that it was executed as an independent work for the summer 1880 exhibition of the Royal Watercolour Society.

Birket Foster first visited Venice in 1868, in the company of his wife, his cousin Mrs Elizabeth Foster Brown, his cousin's daughter Elizabeth, and the artist, W.Q. Orchardson. After his initial visit Birket Foster returned to Venice almost every year until 1877 to work on the watercolours for the Seely commission.

Birket Foster's passionate interest and keen observation of the maritime life on the Giudecca and the market folk going about their daily business almost overshadows his fine rendering of the architecture: Santa Maria della Salute, the Campanile of St Mark's Basilica, the Dogana, the Doges' Palace and San Giorgio Maggiore, provide a powerful back-drop to this intimate scene.

Barnet Lewis who owned the present watercolour in the 1930s, formed a very important collection of the artist's work, and many of his watercolours provided H.M. Cundall with the colour illustrations for his book on the artist. The sale of Lewis' collection of one hundred and fifteen watercolours by Birket Foster was held in these Rooms; the present watercolour was sold for the second highest price in the sale.

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