William Wyld, RI, 
British 1806-1889- 

A View of Venice from the Riva degli Schiavoni; 

oil on canvas, signed 'W WYLD' (lower centre, on the banister), 96 x 148.1 cm. 

Provenance: 
with Frost & Reed, London, no.49613. 
Gifted to the present owner, 1970s. 

Note: 
Wyld worked as secretary for the British Consulate in Calais, where he met and studied under the watercolourist François Louis Thomas Francia (1772-1839), who was also tutor to Richard Parkes Bonington (1802-1828). It was during his time in France that Wyld struck up friendships with other artists, including Horace Vernet (1789-1863), Ary Scheffer (1795-1858), and Paul Delaroche (1797-1856). Wyld's patrons included Queen Victoria (1819-1901), who commissioned views of Manchester and London to commemorate her 1851 visits to the cities. 

Wyld travelled widely around Italy, embarking on a tour of the country on foot with a companion - said to be Émile-Aubert Lessore (1805-1876) - in the 1830s. He was particularly celebrated for his striking views of Venice, which were in high demand when the artist established his studio in Paris in 1834. Indeed, Wyld exhibited a two-metre wide canvas entitled 'Venice at Sunrise' at the Paris Salon of 1839. The present work exhibits a sharpness in execution which renders the scene especially convincing and evocative, in the vein of the master of Venetian views, Canaletto (1697-1768). The crowd of figures bedecked in colourful costume to the right of the composition, however, gestures towards the influence of Vernet's Orientalist approach on Wyld's own painting.