Lot 293: John Wharlton Bunney (1828-1882)

A Venetian View
signed and dated 'J Bunney.1880.' (lower right) and further signed and inscribed 'Venice - a fine afternoon 1880 No. 221/J.W.Bunney Fondamenta San Biagio' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
7 1/8 x 13 3/4 in. (18.1 x 34.9 cm.)

The artist's journal, 1880.
MS letter card from Miss E.A. Lippincote to J.W. Bunney, 2 September 1880.

Miss E.A. Lippincote, by September 1880.

Bunney was a pupil of Ruskin's at the Working Men's College in the mid to late 1850s. His meticulous architectural and landscape views subscribe to Ruskinian principles whilst retaining a poetry of their own. Bunney lived in Venice from 1870-1882. His monumental painting, The West Front of St Mark's, Venice, which Ruskin commissioned in 1877 for the Guild of St George's Ruskin Museum in Sheffield, and which Bunney finished not long before his death in September 1882, remains in Sheffield and can be seen in the Millenium Galleries.

A memorial exhibition of Bunney's work was held at the Fine Art Society in November 1882. In a letter written in August 1883 to the artist's widow, Elizabeth, Ruskin envisaged Bunney's name as 'ineffaceably connected with the history of all efforts recently made in Italy for the preservation of true record of her National monuments'.

The present oil study shows the sweep of the Guidecca to the left, with Santa Maria della Salute and the entrance to the Canal Grande in the centre distance, and the Palazzo Ducale and Campanile di San Marco on the right.

Bunney's second-floor appartment was on the Fondamenta San Biagio, from where the artist enjoyed a good view of Venice, and his maritime background enabled him to delineate the water traffic with especial fidelity.

The artist often painted his Venetian views in early morning or late afternoon light. His sensitive handling of the oil medium was perfect for capturing delicate tonalities. Miss Lippincote commissioned the present picture in June 1880 when she visited Bunney's studio; it was duly sent to her in September.

We are grateful to the artist's great-granddaughter, Sarah E. Bunney, for her help in preparing this catalogue entry.