45. Venice (Gritti Palace) [1928]

The studies conducted in Paris would awaken the Romanian painter's appetite for travel. He will discover Venice, which he will transcribe into exceptional pictorial frescoes, creating panoramas of the canals, bridges or monumental architectural buildings. The imposing Palazzo Gritti, also known as Palazzo Gritti Dandolo, located in the Cannaregio district and overlooking the Grand Canal, Venice, became the central subject of several works signed by Gheorghe Petrașcu over time. He returns to this region repeatedly and turns foreign trips into an opportunity to gain knowledge. He thus visits the great museums and is deeply impressed by Titian and Velázquez. He takes on the motive of typical houses, submerged in water, which he renders in strident colors, predominantly using red and green. The architectural fragmentations and the reflections of the water make this work part of the gallery of remarkable Venetian city landscapes. He will revisit this theme for several years, successively, in the first part of the 20s, the present work even dating from 1928. The original palace was built in the 14th century. It was redesigned in Venetian Gothic style for the Pisani family in 1475. In 1525, it became the private residence of Doge Andrea Gritti. The second façade on Campo was designed in the 16th century. Palazzo Gritti underwent a strong renovation in the 17th century, when its geometry was radically changed, but not its size.

References

OPRESCU, George, "Gheorghe Petrașcu", Meridiane Publishing House, Bucharest, 1963. FLOREA, Vasile, "Gheorghe Petrașcu", Meridiane Publishing House, Bucharest, 1989.

Dimensions

width 35 cm, height 25 cm

Description

oil on cardboard, signed and dated lower left, in white, "G. Petrașcu, (1)928"

Dating

1928

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