Venise, l'église des Gesuati

Painted in 1875, Venise, l'église des Gesuati is a work by Félix Ziem, now in the collection of Petit Palais, that reflects the artistic concerns of the late 19th century — an era of fundamental transformation in both the methods and purposes of European and American painting. Félix Ziem was the most celebrated French painter of Venice in the 19th century, making over sixty visits to the city and developing a romantic vision of Venetian light and water that owed as much to Turner and Delacroix as to direct observation. His golden, shimmering canvases were enormously popular with French and international collectors.

Ziem painted with loose, impressionistic strokes that dissolve Venetian architectural detail into atmospheric light and water reflection. His palette is warm, rich, and golden — ochres, crimsons, shimmering turquoises — applied with romantic freedom that sacrifices topographical accuracy for lyrica.