Une ruelle à Venise

The present work is one of the earliest known paintings by Wilfrid de Glehn, painted on what was probably his first journey to Italy. From 1890 to 1896 de Glehn studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, although his studies were interspersed by frequent periods of travel around Europe. However, it was in Italy that 'he found himself face to face with the very embodiment of the ideals which had, since his childhood, forced him on in his aesthetic quest' (L. van der Veer, 'Our Rising Artists: Wilfrid Gabriel von Glehn', The Magazine of Art, vol. XXVII, 1903, p. 276.)

As with most students of art abroad de Glehn made copies after the Old Masters (one such copy after Tintoretto was exhibited at the Goupil Galleries in 1899) but Une ruelle à Venise offers a unique insight into the early development of the artist's response to nature. Its small scale suggests it may have been executed en plein air, and de Glehn's well-developed use of colour captures the dazzling light and intense heat of the sun reflecting off the whitewashed walls. The inscriptions in French on the reverse of the panel are in accordance with the artist's residence in Paris during this period, and the signature 'von Glehn' was usual on his work until circa 1917, when Wilfrid's branch of the family changed their name by deed-poll due to anti-German feeling.