Renoir’s financial success in painting portraits allowed him to travel across Europe. In 1881, the painter embarked on his first trip to Italy, proving to be a significant stage in his artistic education. He found inspiration in the works of Veronese, Tiepolo, and Raphael, and the Pompeian frescoes left a profound impression on him. In addition to artworks, Renoir was captivated by Italian cities. He fell under the spell of Venice, the first city he visited during the Italian expedition. There, he dedicated himself to artistic work, creating many views of the city, unusual for a painter who typically avoided vedutas and landscapes. “Gondola on the Grand Canal in Venice” is one of those paintings that later became a pride of the Silberberg collection. The canvas depicts a panoramic view of the city seen from the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, with the powerful, black silhouette of a gondola in the foreground.
The history of the painting before it entered Max Silberberg’s collection is unknown, but the attribution of the painting has never been in doubt. It was signed by the painter, and reproductions of it have appeared in literature on the subject since 1906. In 1932, the canvas was auctioned at Georges Petit’s salon in Paris. There, it was purchased by a certain Dr. Hirschmann from Amsterdam, likely hiding behind the pseudonym art historian and dealer Otto Hirschmann. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that Otto Hirschmann was well-acquainted with the German art market, as he was then managing the branch of the Berlin gallery Van Diemen & Co. in The Hague. He probably knew about the Paris auction of Silberberg’s collection. The painting then entered the renowned collection of banker and art collector Siegfried Kramarsky in Amsterdam. Due to his Jewish heritage, Kramarsky left the Netherlands in 1938 and emigrated to New York. In 1958, the canvas was inherited by Werner H. Kramarsky, who sold it to the New York gallery “Richard L. Feigen & Co.” in 1970. Philip Levin acquired it there with his spouse in 1970. The couple donated the painting in 2001 to another collector, who, seven years later, put it up for auction at Christie’s in New York.
Painting Information:
oil on canvas, dimensions: 54.6 x 66 cm, private collection.
Literature: Collections de Messieurs S… et S…, Tableau Modernes, Paris, 9 Juin 1932, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris 1932, nr 27.