A Lady Seen in Profile
Oil Painting
ca. 1700-ca. 1710 (painted)
ca. 1700-ca. 1710 (painted)
| Artist/Maker |
A woman in profile facing right, wearing a black skirt and dark blue mantle and holding a feather fan (?) to her face. This work is part of an album of fifty-three sketches by Carlevarijs which includes figures and objects he appears to have painted in the open air in preparation for insertion into formal compositions.
Luca Carlevarijs, (1663-1730) was an Italian painter, engraver and architect particularly known for his views of Venice. Although he was more than simply a view painter, much of his work was certainly in the genre later made popular by Canaletto and Francesco Guardi. In 1679 Carlevaris moved to Venice and is said to have made a trip to Rome in 1698. In 1703 he published Le fabriche e vedute di Venezia disegnate poste in prospettiva et intagliate da Luca Carlevaris which included 104 views of Venice. It was the most complete survey of the fabric of the city ever produced and served as a model for Venetian view painters throughout the 18th century. This study of a woman in profile is one of Carlevarijs’ studies known as macchiette, the quick sketches he made with daubs of colour to indicate animated Venetian figures. Carlevarijs first drew the figures on paper, copying them from people he saw in the streets and then transformed them into lively oil sketches, such as this one, which represent a crucial part of his artistic process. Studies such as these would ultimately form part of a Venetian veduta or prospect painting, which is a genre Carlevarijs is generally credited with establishing in the eighteenth century. This figure appears for example in the right foreground of A View of Piazza San Marco, towards the Basilica (Milan, Private Collection) and in the lower right of The Entry of the Imperial Ambassador, Count of Colloredo, into Palazzo Ducale (Dresden, Staatliche Gemäldegalerie).
Luca Carlevarijs, (1663-1730) was an Italian painter, engraver and architect particularly known for his views of Venice. Although he was more than simply a view painter, much of his work was certainly in the genre later made popular by Canaletto and Francesco Guardi. In 1679 Carlevaris moved to Venice and is said to have made a trip to Rome in 1698. In 1703 he published Le fabriche e vedute di Venezia disegnate poste in prospettiva et intagliate da Luca Carlevaris which included 104 views of Venice. It was the most complete survey of the fabric of the city ever produced and served as a model for Venetian view painters throughout the 18th century. This study of a woman in profile is one of Carlevarijs’ studies known as macchiette, the quick sketches he made with daubs of colour to indicate animated Venetian figures. Carlevarijs first drew the figures on paper, copying them from people he saw in the streets and then transformed them into lively oil sketches, such as this one, which represent a crucial part of his artistic process. Studies such as these would ultimately form part of a Venetian veduta or prospect painting, which is a genre Carlevarijs is generally credited with establishing in the eighteenth century. This figure appears for example in the right foreground of A View of Piazza San Marco, towards the Basilica (Milan, Private Collection) and in the lower right of The Entry of the Imperial Ambassador, Count of Colloredo, into Palazzo Ducale (Dresden, Staatliche Gemäldegalerie).
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Title | A Lady Seen in Profile (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Oil on paper |
| Brief description | Oil painting, 'A Lady Seen in Profile' by Luca Carlevarijs, oil on paper, late 17th-early 18th century |
| Physical description | A woman in profile facing right, wearing a black skirt and dark blue mantle and holding a feather fan (?) to her face. This work is part of an album of fifty-three sketches by Carlevarijs which includes figures and objects he appears to have painted in the open air in preparation for insertion into formal compositions. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Credit line | Purchased from the funds of Captain H. B. Murray's bequest. |
| Object history | Purchased, 1938 Historical significance: Luca Carlevarijs, (1663-1730) was an Italian painter, engraver and architect particularly known for his views of Venice. Although he was more than simply a view painter, much of his work was certainly in the genre later made popular by Canaletto and Francesco Guardi. In 1679 Carlevaris moved to Venice and is said to have made a trip to Rome in 1698. In 1703 he published Le fabriche e vedute di Venezia disegnate poste in prospettiva et intagliate da Luca Carlevaris which included 104 views of Venice. It was the most complete survey of the fabric of the city ever produced and served as a model for Venetian view painters throughout the 18th century. This study of a woman in profile is one of Carlevarijs’ studies known as macchiette, the quick sketches he made with daubs of colour to indicate animated Venetian figures. Carlevarijs first drew the figures on paper, copying them from people he saw in the streets and then transformed them into lively oil sketches, such as this one, which represent a crucial part of his artistic process. Studies such as these would ultimately form part of a Venetian veduta or prospect painting, which is a genre Carlevarijs is generally credited with establishing in the eighteenth century. This figure appears for example in the right foreground of A View of Piazza San Marco, towards the Basilica (Milan, Private Collection, repr. no. 59, 1994 exh cat) and in the lower right of The Entry of the Imperial Ambassador, Count of Colloredo, into Palazzo Ducale (Dresden, Staatliche Gemäldegalerie). Carlevarijs populated his vedute with elegantly posed and well-dressed figures, concealing the decline of the Republic under the splendour of the pageants, festivals and regattas he often represented. |
| Historical context | This work is part of an album of fifty-three sketches by Carlevarijs which includes figures he appears to have painted in the open air in preparation for insertion into formal compositions. The figures and objects appear frequently and virtually without variations in his paintings between 1707 and 1726 and are closely related to his etchings of 1703 in Le fabriche e vedute di Venetia. Composed of 104 views of Venice, the etchings formed the most complete survey of the fabric of the city ever produced and served as a model for Venetian view painters throughout the 18th century. Carlevarijs' sketches reveal a particular attention to costume, highlighting Venetian style of dress which was highly regarded in fashionable circles throughout Europe from the 16th through the 18th centuries. The maritime republic imported raw materials from the Far East and exported finished products including highly desirable velvets and brocades. The taste for Venetian textiles persisted into the 18th century. In this period however, Venice's power was dwindling and her government corrupt. The city nevertheless sought to present a facade of a wealthy city peopled with bright and gregarious multitude engaged in pleasurable pursuits. As Carlevarijs stated in the dedication to Le fabriche, he intended his paintings to 'rendere più facile alla notitzia de Paesi stranieri le Venete Magnificenze' [render more clearly the magnificence of Venice to foreign countries] |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | A woman in profile facing right, wearing a black skirt and dark blue mantle and holding a feather fan (?) to her face. This work is part of an album of fifty-three sketches by Carlevarijs which includes figures and objects he appears to have painted in the open air in preparation for insertion into formal compositions. Luca Carlevarijs, (1663-1730) was an Italian painter, engraver and architect particularly known for his views of Venice. Although he was more than simply a view painter, much of his work was certainly in the genre later made popular by Canaletto and Francesco Guardi. In 1679 Carlevaris moved to Venice and is said to have made a trip to Rome in 1698. In 1703 he published Le fabriche e vedute di Venezia disegnate poste in prospettiva et intagliate da Luca Carlevaris which included 104 views of Venice. It was the most complete survey of the fabric of the city ever produced and served as a model for Venetian view painters throughout the 18th century. This study of a woman in profile is one of Carlevarijs’ studies known as macchiette, the quick sketches he made with daubs of colour to indicate animated Venetian figures. Carlevarijs first drew the figures on paper, copying them from people he saw in the streets and then transformed them into lively oil sketches, such as this one, which represent a crucial part of his artistic process. Studies such as these would ultimately form part of a Venetian veduta or prospect painting, which is a genre Carlevarijs is generally credited with establishing in the eighteenth century. This figure appears for example in the right foreground of A View of Piazza San Marco, towards the Basilica (Milan, Private Collection) and in the lower right of The Entry of the Imperial Ambassador, Count of Colloredo, into Palazzo Ducale (Dresden, Staatliche Gemäldegalerie). |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | P.75-1938 |
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| Record created | February 12, 2007 |
| Record URL |
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