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Painting of man in black hat holding hand of woman in white gown

In the center of this painting, a light-skinned man in a peach-colored tunic faces a light-skinned woman wearing a long, white, empire-waisted dress. He wears a black skullcap over his shoulder-length light brown hair, and she wears a golden circlet on her head. The couple stands on white steps with a railing to the right. Another couple stands behind them to the right. The woman looks over her shoulder at the first couple. At foreground left, a child in a yellow tunic stands looking at the viewer with the top of their head pressed against the wall.

Gallery Text

This painting demonstrates the permeability of different art forms and national traditions in early nineteenth-century Europe. Born in Britain, Richard Parkes Bonington moved to France at a young age. He trained there in the French academic manner, eventually joining the artistic and literary circle of the painter Eugène Delacroix. Drawing from one of his own illustrations for Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, he depicts the play’s hero, Bassanio, standing at the center of the composition, having just won the favor of the heroine, Portia. Pledging her fortune to him, Portia gives Bassanio a ring, while her maid, Nerissa, looks on. Bonington also engages the tradition of Renaissance painting by adopting the soft hues of the Venetian school, which he had encountered during his Italian travels. A prodigy in his day, the young artist died of tuberculosis just months after completing this work.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.182
People
Richard Parkes Bonington, British (Arnold, England 1802-1828 London, England)
Title
Evening in Venice
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
1826-1828
Culture
British
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/230050

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2200, European and American Art, 17th–19th century, The Emergence of Romanticism in Early Nineteenth-Century France
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Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
56.5 x 46.7 cm (22 1/4 x 18 3/8 in.)
framed: 69 x 59 cm (27 3/16 x 23 1/4 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Henry Labouchère, Baron Taunton, Somersetshire, United Kingdom, 1829, by descent; to Edward James Stanley, Esq. (his son), Somersetshire, United Kingdom, by descent; to Edward Arthur Vestey Stanley (his son), Somersetshire, United Kingdom, sold [through his sale, Sotheby's, London, July 15,1920, lot 113]; to Buxford. [Scott & Fowles, New York], sold; to Grenville Lindall Winthrop, bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1943.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.182
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT BY THE TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION TO THE HARVARD ART MUSEUMS.

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Publication History

  • Sale Catalogue of Lord Taunton Heirlooms, Collection of E. A. V. Stanley, Esq., auct. cat., Sotheby's (London, England, July 15 1920), repr. full page, sepia, no. 113
  • A. Dubuillon and C. E. Hughes, Richard Parkes Bonington: His Life and Work (London, England, 1924), p. 203, repr. full page in color opposite p. 78
  • Hon. Andrew Shirley, Bonington (London, England, 1940), list, p. 151
  • Chinese Sculpture, Bronzes, Jades, Paintings and Drawings, Egyptian and Persian sculpture, Pre-Columbian art; selected from the collection of Grenville Lindall Winthrop, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1943), p. 9
  • Edgar Peters Bowron, European Paintings Before 1900 in the Fogg Art Museum: A Summary Catalogue including Paintings in the Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1990), p. 99; repr. as no. 50
  • Patrick Noon, Richard Parkes Bonington on the Pleasure of Painting, exh. cat., Yale University Press (New Haven, CT and London, England, 1991), pp. 79, 230, 244, 247, 248, repr. as fig. 66
  • Stephan Wolohojian, ed., A Private Passion: 19th-Century Paintings and Drawings from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection, Harvard University, exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Yale University Press (U.S.) (New York, 2003), no. 152, pp. 354-356, repr. in color
  • Stephan Wolohojian, Ingres, Burne-Jones, Whistler, Renoir... La Collection Grenville L. Winthrop, exh. cat., Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon and Réunion des Musées Nationaux (Paris, France, 2003), no. 152, pp. 366-368, repr. in color
  • Patrick Noon, Richard Parkes Bonington: The Complete Paintings, Yale University Press (U.S.) (New Haven and London, 2008), Entry 413, pp. 452-453; referenced in entry 386, p. 414
  • Salon du Dessin 2021, auct. cat., Galerie de Bayser (Paris, 2021), under entry for "Soirée Vénitienne" by Bonington

Exhibition History

  • Chinese sculpture, bronzes, jades, paintings and drawings, Egyptian and Persian sculpture, Pre-Columbian art : selected from the collection of Grenville Lindall Winthrop, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 10/01/1943 - 02/28/1944
  • Sublimations: Art and Sensuality in the 19th Century, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 07/13/1996 - 07/21/2002
  • A Private Passion: 19th-Century Paintings and Drawings from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection, Harvard University, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 10/23/2003 - 01/25/2004
  • For Students of Art and Lovers of Beauty: Highlights from the Collection of Grenville L. Winthrop, Harvard University Art Museums, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 04/16/2004
  • 32Q: 2200 19th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu