DOI issue:
No. 18 (September, 1894)
DOI article:Richards, Frank: Letters from artists to artists, [10], Venice as a sketching-ground
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17190#0193
Sketching Grounds.—No. X. Venice
duly passed round they vanished. During the was full on the moored-up fishing boats. All these
next quarter of an hour at least half a dozen sets of had those brilliant orange and gold sails with the
itinerant musicians put in an appearance, sang the very varied designs and caricatures peculiar to the
Adriatic fishing-boats ; the foreground being com-
posed of fish and fruit stalls on the wide stone-
paved street, all in cool purplish shadow; the dark
poles of the stalls and some few masts and sails in
the shadow cutting against the glow of golden sun-
light, made up an effect one rarely dreams of, let
alone actually sees.
Venice from a painter's point of view, despite all
its architectural beauty, its palaces, gondolas, and
its St. Mark's, does not compare for strength of
colour with Chioggia. After returning from the
latter Venice looked too pretty, dainty, and trim.
I don't know that one could get luxuries, or even
decent living, at Chioggia. For my own part, I
should not like to live there alone. Like Venice,
unpleasant odours are plentiful enough, but if
one can endure them there is in Chioggia an open
field for a strong painter. It is much more Eastern
in appearance than Venice : there are streets of
archways, and the architecture, like everything else,
is more robust and ruder than the Venetian, so that
we practically deserted Venice for Chioggia.
Venice is perhaps a better place for studying
character, there are so many types to be seen,
people of nearly all nationalities ; and to sit at one
of the tables outside any of the cafes in the Piazza
San Marco one can fill many sketch-books from the
ever-changing stream of human beings.
There are two or three very good colour shops
in Venice, so one need take but few sketching
materials; colours, canvases, and most of the im-
plements used by and necessary to the painter can
be readily obtained there. The brushes, however,
are nothing to boast of, therefore perhaps it is just
as well to take some of Newmans', Reeves', or those
one is accustomed to use when at home.
It is very difficult to get really good models,
unless one is thoroughly accustomed to the place—
the regular professional sitters being as a rule fat,
coarse-looking women. We employed none of
them, but used to go about with our gondolier and
engage models as we came across them in our little
voyages of discovery. We always found it most
satisfactory to arrange terms beforehand, not com-
mencing work until that was settled, which saved
us a lot of inconvenience and misunderstanding;
for no matter how badly a novice would pose, he
same song, and performed the shell trick, and then usually expected full pay at the end of a seance,
we made our departure after having made sketches and would ask for it with a very independent air.
of a few. Stepping into the street there was a great Many one engages in the streets whose paintable
feast of colour awaiting us; the late afternoon sun appearances are suitable for good character studies,
175
SKETCHES IN THE FRUIT MARKET
duly passed round they vanished. During the was full on the moored-up fishing boats. All these
next quarter of an hour at least half a dozen sets of had those brilliant orange and gold sails with the
itinerant musicians put in an appearance, sang the very varied designs and caricatures peculiar to the
Adriatic fishing-boats ; the foreground being com-
posed of fish and fruit stalls on the wide stone-
paved street, all in cool purplish shadow; the dark
poles of the stalls and some few masts and sails in
the shadow cutting against the glow of golden sun-
light, made up an effect one rarely dreams of, let
alone actually sees.
Venice from a painter's point of view, despite all
its architectural beauty, its palaces, gondolas, and
its St. Mark's, does not compare for strength of
colour with Chioggia. After returning from the
latter Venice looked too pretty, dainty, and trim.
I don't know that one could get luxuries, or even
decent living, at Chioggia. For my own part, I
should not like to live there alone. Like Venice,
unpleasant odours are plentiful enough, but if
one can endure them there is in Chioggia an open
field for a strong painter. It is much more Eastern
in appearance than Venice : there are streets of
archways, and the architecture, like everything else,
is more robust and ruder than the Venetian, so that
we practically deserted Venice for Chioggia.
Venice is perhaps a better place for studying
character, there are so many types to be seen,
people of nearly all nationalities ; and to sit at one
of the tables outside any of the cafes in the Piazza
San Marco one can fill many sketch-books from the
ever-changing stream of human beings.
There are two or three very good colour shops
in Venice, so one need take but few sketching
materials; colours, canvases, and most of the im-
plements used by and necessary to the painter can
be readily obtained there. The brushes, however,
are nothing to boast of, therefore perhaps it is just
as well to take some of Newmans', Reeves', or those
one is accustomed to use when at home.
It is very difficult to get really good models,
unless one is thoroughly accustomed to the place—
the regular professional sitters being as a rule fat,
coarse-looking women. We employed none of
them, but used to go about with our gondolier and
engage models as we came across them in our little
voyages of discovery. We always found it most
satisfactory to arrange terms beforehand, not com-
mencing work until that was settled, which saved
us a lot of inconvenience and misunderstanding;
for no matter how badly a novice would pose, he
same song, and performed the shell trick, and then usually expected full pay at the end of a seance,
we made our departure after having made sketches and would ask for it with a very independent air.
of a few. Stepping into the street there was a great Many one engages in the streets whose paintable
feast of colour awaiting us; the late afternoon sun appearances are suitable for good character studies,
175
SKETCHES IN THE FRUIT MARKET