Lot 236: FÉLIX ZIEM

PROPERTY FROM A FRENCH PRIVATE COLLECTION FRENCH 1821-1911 LE PALAIS DU DOGE, VENISE signed Ziem lower right oil on canvas 65.5 by 95.5cm., 25¾ by 37½in.

Acquired by the family of the present owner before the 1920s (possibly directly from the artist)

Félix Ziem was the painter of Venice par excellence. He visited the city more than twenty times, executing numerous views of its lagoon and canals. The commercial success of his Venice views has often obscured their originality and the diversity of their compositions. The vivacity and freshness of his palette, Ziem's determination to seize fleeting effects of light, and his ability to transcribe the iridescence of sunlight on water have often invoked comparison with Impressionism. In fact, the spirit of his work was fundamentally different. Ziem wanted to express the poetic quality of his subject, to transform it into a dream-like vision, rather than to transcribe an immediate reality.