Walter Richard Sickert 1860-1942

‘The loveliest city in the world’. This is how Sickert described Venice, a city with which he was enchanted, from his first visit with his wife Ellen in 1894.

It was in 1895, however, that he returned to paint the city in all its shades and subtleties, and the works he produced there established his reputation and found a ready market, particularly in Paris.

Degas was an early inspiration for Sickert’s practical approach to painting but he was equally influenced by Monet and Pissarro. It is possible he stopped off in Paris on the way to Venice to see the exhibition of Monet’s paintings of Rouen Cathedral at Durand Ruel gallery.

‘La Scuola Grande di San Marco’ is one of six paintings Sickert made of the subject during the 1895 visit, this being the earliest from which all the others followed. In all probability, it is also the painting entitled ‘Scirocco’ exhibited at the New English Art Club in 1896.

Reviewing the exhibition, the Daily Telegraph describes the painting ‘Gleams of silver catching here and there mouldings and surfaces of darker grey’. The atmospheric depiction of the water and sky using feathery brush work contrasting with the more defined expression of the façade of the Scuola shows Sickert’s lifelong fascination and experimentation with the medium of oil paint.

Indeed, writing of his Venice views, Wendy Baron states ‘For Sickert, the chief interest in painting was the handling of paint.’