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Lot Essay
It is sunset on the Grand Canal and the golden light of Venice bathes the Doge’s Palace whilst the Santa Maria della Salute rises in the distance before a backdrop of burning pinks. The present lot memorialises the romantic essence of Venice, capturing its bustling nature as a merchant and story-book city, with ships docked in the grand canal and gondolas ferrying members of high society across the water.
Nerly was one of the most fashionable vedutistes of his generation and he gained a reputation for being one of the most prominent German landscape painters in the international market. Nerly’s use of a warm palette in counterpoint to dramatic shadows, casts an atmospheric haze across his canvases – an effect reminiscent of J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) whose work was a significant point of inspiration for Nerly. Samson Spanier, writing for the Apollo magazine, contemplates how ‘While the influence of Canaletto and the veduta tradition could not be more obvious, the choppy water, the deep orange sunset as well as the cloudy and seemingly changeable weather suggests the influence of Turner, and shows affinity with the romantic landscapes of Caspar David Friedrich’ ('Art market review', Apollo, CLXII, 526, December 2005).
In 1807 Nerly was born Friedrich Nerlich in Erfurt, central Germany, and in 1823 he met the artist, writer and patron, Baron Carl Friedrich von Rumohr (1785-1843), who took a chance on the young artist and made him his protégé. In 1828, Nerly travelled with von Rumohr to Italy and during this trip he made the life-changing decision to spend the rest of his life there – Italianising his name from Nerlich to Nerly. He pursued his studies for six years in Rome before moving in 1835 to Venice where he established his studio in the Palazzo Pisani, near the Campo San Stefano which was a popular meeting point for Venetians. Nerly’s work is an act of homage to the land and city which he chose as his home and his adoration for Venice radiates through his golden palette.
Nerly was one of the most fashionable vedutistes of his generation and he gained a reputation for being one of the most prominent German landscape painters in the international market. Nerly’s use of a warm palette in counterpoint to dramatic shadows, casts an atmospheric haze across his canvases – an effect reminiscent of J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) whose work was a significant point of inspiration for Nerly. Samson Spanier, writing for the Apollo magazine, contemplates how ‘While the influence of Canaletto and the veduta tradition could not be more obvious, the choppy water, the deep orange sunset as well as the cloudy and seemingly changeable weather suggests the influence of Turner, and shows affinity with the romantic landscapes of Caspar David Friedrich’ ('Art market review', Apollo, CLXII, 526, December 2005).
In 1807 Nerly was born Friedrich Nerlich in Erfurt, central Germany, and in 1823 he met the artist, writer and patron, Baron Carl Friedrich von Rumohr (1785-1843), who took a chance on the young artist and made him his protégé. In 1828, Nerly travelled with von Rumohr to Italy and during this trip he made the life-changing decision to spend the rest of his life there – Italianising his name from Nerlich to Nerly. He pursued his studies for six years in Rome before moving in 1835 to Venice where he established his studio in the Palazzo Pisani, near the Campo San Stefano which was a popular meeting point for Venetians. Nerly’s work is an act of homage to the land and city which he chose as his home and his adoration for Venice radiates through his golden palette.