Caffè Florian in Venice

1898/1899

Maurice Prendergast

Associated Names
Maurice Prendergast

Artist, American, 1858 - 1924

The image shows a street scene with a square filled with people and pigeons. A large building with multiple arches dominates the middle section of the painting. The brushstrokes are loose and fluid, typical of a watercolor technique. The color palette includes earthy tones with hints of blue, green, and red. Various clothing colors on the figures add interest to the composition, and street lamps are shown on the street.

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Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

The artist; Charles Prendergast [1863-1948], Boston and New York, 1924; Mrs. Charles Prendergast, New York and Westport, CT, 1948; John Davis Skilton, Jr., Fairfield, CT, 1962; Ernest Hillman, Jr., Washington, DC, 1972; gift to NGA, 2003.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2006

  • The Poetry of Light: Venetian Drawings from the National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2006.

2014

  • The Poetry of Light - La poesia della luce: Venetian Drawings from the National Gallery of Art, Museo Correr, Venice, Venice, 2014 - 2015, no. 138.

Bibliography

1960

  • Maurice Prendergast: 1859-1924. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1960: 89 and 144, no. 82.

1990

  • Clark, Carol, Nancy Mowll Mathews, and Gwendolyn Owens. Maurice Brazil Prendergast and Charles Prendergast: A Catalogue Raisonné. Williamstown, Massachusetts: Williams College Museum of Art, 1990, p. 377, no. 686.

Inscriptions

lower left in pen and brown ink: Maurice Prendergast; by unknown hand, lower right verso in black chalk: 1909 / Venice

Wikidata ID

Q64608923

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