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P & D Colnaghi & Co Ltd
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ANTONIETTA BRANDEIS (1849-1910)
People in the Cortile di san Gregorio, Venice
( Italy
c. 1885
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Medium
Oil on canvas, unlined
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Signed/Inscribed/Dated
Signed lower right: A Brandeis
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Dimensions
154.50cm wide
120.00cm high
(60.83 inches wide 47.24 inches high)
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Provenance
Private collection of Chantal and Guy Heytens
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Description / Expertise
The majority of Brandeis’ work is devoted to views of Venice and the Colnaghi picture depicts a secluded place within the city: the cortile of the abbey San Gregorio. It was partially destroyed at the end of the nineteenth century to build the neo-gothic walls of the palace Genovese. This extraordinary city provided a wealth of inspiration to the imagination of artists throughout the centuries in Europe and Brandeis’ depictions are amongst the most luminous and vibrant of their kind. The Colnaghi picture is a particularly fine example of her style, and exceptional because of its size and quality, in particular the contrast of the chiaroscuro between the water and the background area of the Cortile. The elaborate architectural background, a common trait in her oeuvre, depicts the daily life of various Venetians: fishermen and fruit merchants, working or resting in the cortile, overlooked by the domes of the Salute. Brandeis uses the pictorial technique of impasto to restore the beauty of the architecture of Venice which is contrasted with the smoothly and eloquently painted figures. The depiction of their different tasks contrasts with the nobility of their postures, which remind one of Ancient statues, particularly the woman pouring some water, the lying child, and the dreaming young Venetian.
Unlined and beautifully preserved, the Colnaghi picture formed part of the collection of Chantal and Guy Heytens until very recently. Both born in 1938, they gathered a collection documenting the majority of the pictorial movements of the twentieth century. They owned paintings by such artists as Odilon Redon, Albert Gleizes, Magritte, Poliakoff, Rauschenberg and Warhol. Their collection is the reflection of their sensitivity and their choices were made independent of art criticism of the time.
Antonietta Brandeis was born in Miskowitz, Hungary in 1849. She moved to Italy early in her career settling in Venice for most of her life where she concentrated on painting architecture. She also travelled to both Rome and Florence painting extensively in both cities. However, it was Venice where she had made her reputation. At the end of the nineteenth century and at the beginning of the twentieth century, Venice still remained a popular destination for artists and the cultured and wealthy alike. Brandeis specialised in small intimate scenes of her adopted city and exhibited throughout Europe. Heiress to the great tradition of vedute artists, like Panini, Brandeis soon developed a style of her own and enjoyed a great reputation among the most important artists of the period.
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