The Piazza San Marco, Venice
On View In:
Gallery 355
Artist:   Pierre Auguste Renoir  
Title:   The Piazza San Marco, Venice  
Date:   1881  
Medium:   Oil on canvas  
Dimensions:   35 1/4 x 41 1/8 x 3 1/2 in. (89.54 x 104.46 x 8.89 cm) (outer frame) 25 3/4 x 32 in. (65.41 x 81.28 cm) (canvas)  
Credit Line:   The John R. Van Derlip Fund  
Location:   Gallery 355  

On his tour of Italy, Renoir made a stop in Venice in late October 1881. His Venetian canvases focus primarily on famous sites. Here, Renoir depicts the domes of the Cathedral of San Marco gleaming in the midday sun. This painting was left in a sketch-like state without any studio reworking. Executed in a typically Impressionist technique, the canvas is loosely covered with bold, hurriedly applied strokes of bright, unmixed colors. Simple daubs of paint depict the light falling across the church's façade, as well as the people and fluttering pigeons on the piazza.

Artist/Creator(s)     
Name:   Renoir, Pierre Auguste  
Nationality:   French  
Life Dates:   French, 1841-1919  
 

Object Description  
  
Inscriptions:   Signature LR in brown: [Renoir.]  
Classification:   Paintings  
Physical Description:   Venice. Church. San Marco.  
Creation Place:   Europe, France, , ,  
Accession #:   51.19  
Owner:   The Minneapolis Institute of Arts