VENICE’S ENDURING MAGIC: HOW THE FLOATING CITY INSPIRED ARTISTS FROM CANALETTO TO MANET. CHRISTIES

The Italian destination’s distinct combination of architecture, water, and light has captivated artistic visionaries for centuries, as seen in the collection of Paul G. Allen 

‘Venice has an air of romance and mystery, so you feel you’re taken back into previous eras...’

Paul G. Allen

For many, Venice occupies a unique place in the imagination. A floating city amidst the sheltered waters of a lagoon in the Adriatic Sea, it is an extraordinary location both intensely familiar and otherworldly.

The intricate network of canals ensures that water is a constant presence throughout the cityscape. Magnifying its atmosphere, light can be seen shining between buildings or at the end of a narrow street, bouncing off the water's surface and causing reflections to dance along walls or on the undersides of bridges.

The Paul G. Allen Collection, being offered at Christie’s in New York from 9-10 November, contains a number of artistic treasures devoted to the city, each composition a reflection of the individual voices who found in Venice a subject rich with possibilities.

From the compositions of Canaletto from the mid-1700s, to the dreamlike visions of J.M.W. Turner almost a century later, and the paintings of Thomas Moran and John Singer Sargent, Edouard Manet, Henri-Edmond Cross, and Henri Le Sidaner, these works reveal the ways in which artists working in a myriad of styles and media responded to the enchanting city. 

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