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Lot Essay
Le Sidaner made his first trip to Venice in 1892. In the long tradition of his artistic forebears, this beautiful city made an everlasting impression on the 30 year-old artist. On this first visit, Le Sidaner was struck by works of the early Renaissance in museums in the floating city and in Florence, and particularly those by Fra Angelico, whose influence was stylistically palpable on Le Sidaner's artistic output following his return to France. These early paintings were Symbolist in nature with a dominant emphasis on the figure. The change towards his more signature style came about in 1896 when his preoccupation with capturing the effect of light became all consuming and he began experimenting with the Impressionist technique as an effective means to fully explore that. Naturally Le Sidaner knew and revered the work of Claude Monet, the leading proponent of the Impressionist movement, as he later recalled: 'I was lucky enough to spend a day with the Master of Giverny in the setting created by the recluse for his moments of joy and wonder...It was indeed moving to hear from the mouth of that celebrated artist, already into his eighties, the words of a worker who would the next day resume the struggle to master a new kind of light' (the artist, 'De la lumière et de la couleur', 1935, quoted in op.cit., p. 35).
Interestingly, Le Sidaner's depictions of Venice preceded those by Monet who made his only visit to the city in autumn 1908. Le Sidaner returned to Venice in 1906 and again in 1907 and was entranced by the colouristic possibilities that the city offered. 'Another surprise may well await us when we set foot in Venice having crossed the Grand Canal by gondola and in late afternoon end up at Saint Mark's, the Piazetta and the Ducal Palace, the fleshy colour of which is gilded by the last rays of the sun. You probably remember the description of the fiery spectacle in The Flame by D'Annunzio in which the impression is heightened by the sound of bells ringing from all the churches in peals laid one upon the other, reflected in the dying accents of the flames flung by the sun on the fine buildings, and duplicated in the shifting reflections of the waters' (the artist, 'De la lumière et de la couleur', 1935, quoted in ibid, p. 109). La Salute. Matin d'hiver, Venise presents that most recognisable of Venetian edifices, the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute, on a radiant winter's morning. Venice's shimmering light is masterfully evoked in the present work where the substance of the monuments appears to dissolve into the dazzling water of the canal. Through a riot of rose pinks, yellows and blues, the artist glories in the interrelationship between atmosphere, light, colour, and water. On his return to Paris, his Venice paintings were exhibited to much critical acclaim: 'the art of the painter consists in calming and even lulling the spectator's gaze while at the same time charming and winning it over' (Emile Verhaeren, 'Mercure de France', 1906, in ibid, p. 31).
Interestingly, Le Sidaner's depictions of Venice preceded those by Monet who made his only visit to the city in autumn 1908. Le Sidaner returned to Venice in 1906 and again in 1907 and was entranced by the colouristic possibilities that the city offered. 'Another surprise may well await us when we set foot in Venice having crossed the Grand Canal by gondola and in late afternoon end up at Saint Mark's, the Piazetta and the Ducal Palace, the fleshy colour of which is gilded by the last rays of the sun. You probably remember the description of the fiery spectacle in The Flame by D'Annunzio in which the impression is heightened by the sound of bells ringing from all the churches in peals laid one upon the other, reflected in the dying accents of the flames flung by the sun on the fine buildings, and duplicated in the shifting reflections of the waters' (the artist, 'De la lumière et de la couleur', 1935, quoted in ibid, p. 109). La Salute. Matin d'hiver, Venise presents that most recognisable of Venetian edifices, the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute, on a radiant winter's morning. Venice's shimmering light is masterfully evoked in the present work where the substance of the monuments appears to dissolve into the dazzling water of the canal. Through a riot of rose pinks, yellows and blues, the artist glories in the interrelationship between atmosphere, light, colour, and water. On his return to Paris, his Venice paintings were exhibited to much critical acclaim: 'the art of the painter consists in calming and even lulling the spectator's gaze while at the same time charming and winning it over' (Emile Verhaeren, 'Mercure de France', 1906, in ibid, p. 31).