Lot 1404 | Konstantin Gorbatov | View of the Canal Grande in Venice

GORBATOV, KONSTANTIN
1876 Stavropol - 1945 Berlin

Title: View of the Canal Grande in Venice.
Date: Ca. 1930.
Technique: Oil on canvas.
Measurement: 65 x 81cm.
Notation: Signed lower left: C. Gorbatoff.
Frame: Framed.
Verso:
Inscribed on the canvas: "Venedig / Canale Grande / C. Gorbatoff".

Provenance:
Private ownership, Germany, purchased at the Hamburg Kunsthandel in 1995.

The sunlight falls colourfully on the lifeline of the lagoon city of Venice, the Grand Canal, along whose banks rise the breathtaking silhouettes of aristocratic palazzi and churches of the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Konstantin Gorbatov lends special radiance to the bright façades by colourfully accentuating their basic architectural structures. Vivid yellow, blue and orange tones contrast richly with the light tone of the stones. The imposing architecture meets the sunlit turquoise-blue water surface of the canal in such a luminous way. This is gently moved by black gondolas, the traditional means of transport of the Venetians with their characteristic arched shape, which are occasionally placed in the picture.

The artist, who was born in 1876 in the small Volga town of Stravopol, fell in love with Italy during a study trip to Europe, during which he perfected his unique Impressionist style. This was made possible by a scholarship he received after graduating from the Imperial Art Academy in St. Petersburg. Upon his return, however, he faced harsh criticism due to the romantic tendencies of his art, which stood in sharp contrast to the realism he propagated. As a consequence, Konstantin Gorbatov left Russia for Italy in 1924, travelling between Capri and Venice for two years before settling in Berlin in 1926. Venice remained a place of longing for the painter throughout his life: he created the present painting around 1930, from memory. It bears witness to his vivid memories of the fascinating Serenissima.

The artist pays particular attention to the interplay of colour and light, making this his elementary means of composition. Carefully, he explores light in all its facets. If it appears on the surface of the water as tiny dancing reflections, Gorbatov immerses the sky in pastel tones in the bright but diffuse light of a warm late afternoon. Far more than a mere depiction of typographic features, the artist succeeds in capturing the atmospheric mood of the port city, which seems dreamy, almost melancholic.

We are grateful to Olga Sugrobova­ Roth und Eckart Lingenauber, Düsseldorf, for confirming the authenticity of the present painting after examination in the original.