Felix Ziem's Painting Evaluation

3 Pages 728 Words

Evaluation of Quai de Esclaron’s/La Promenade

Felix Ziem painted this painting some time in the 1840s-1860s. #Felix Ziem studied architecture in Dijon while painting landscapes with water colors even then in his youth. Then from 1841-1843, he lived in Russia and painted sights from the Bosphorus, and was influenced by Cort and Rousseau; also, he began to use mostly oil paint. He then traveled a lot and painted much of Venice and Turkey. This painting comes from his many impressionistic (even though he was pre-impressionist) paintings from Venice.

#The title refers to the two protruding stone Esclaron piers visible in the foreground. The painting is painted with receding perspective lines in the near edge of the canvas protruding thoroughly balanced towards the left center. The subject is at first the obviously wealthy group beginning to embark on a leisurely trip down the Grand Canal. One woman is dressed in purple--wealthy color-- another is in yellow, a darkened figure in blue must be a servant. Someone who looks to be a soldier in red is preparing the boat. A dark big brown figure is approaching the group with a flower arrangement. He seems to be poor and taking advantage of the chance to get some spare change for his counterparts in the closer foreground who are preparing the arrangements. #Behind this colorfully contrasting group is the awesome Doges palace. So these people are probably the Dukes family or friends; or perhaps other higher aristocracy. The palace and the building next to it are decorated with beautiful architecture and notably a big sculpture of a nude woman reaching into the heavens. This leads the eye to the sky with few clouds and the not visible sun seems to be in the mid-low northwest. One must notice the many little arch bridges of the small canal walkways. The architecture designers of these old buildings had their work cut-out for them. It would be exciting to go out on a canal ride...