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Painted in 1909.

indistinctly signed Henri Martin (lower right)

oil on canvas

CATALOGUE NOTE

Henri Martin, who was Italian on his mother's side, discovered Italy in 1886. His first visit to Venice affected him greatly and had a profound impact on his artistic development.

Like contemporaries such as Boudin, Pissarro, Renoir and Monet, Venice fascinated the artist. Just before his return to France he wrote: 'Of all the cities that I have seen on my trip, Venice is by far the one that delights me the most... What corners it has to paint in! I was not expecting such work, or I would have left Rome and Florence earlier... Italy offers everything to be desired. I will come back as soon as possible' (quoted in C. Juskienewski, Henri Martin (exhibition catalogue), Cahors & Toulouse, 1993, p. 91).

His Venetian paintings are among Martin's most evocative, capturing the poetic majesty of the city. Rather than depicting the city's architectural splendour and impressive facades, the artist was interested in recording its sublime and romantic qualities. In Gondoles à Venise, Martin concentrates on the water and sky and the constantly changing interplay of light and colour.

After visiting the major exhibition of Martin's Venetian canvases in Georges Petit's gallery in 1910, Achille Segard noted: 'Il regarde Venise à travers son Quercy. Il a vu des ciels et des eaux méridionales et il fait tout de même de très beaux tableaux sur des motifs vénitiens, parce que ses motifs éveillent en lui le même lyrisme instinctif que ceux de sa région' (quoted in Henri Martin (exhibition catalogue), Palais des Arts, Toulouse, 1983, p. 96).