No detail is missed in this famous painting by the Spanish artist Martin Rico Ortega (1833-1908). From a yellow curtain blowing in the breeze to the gentleman holding an umbrella to shade his lady from the hot sun, we see a wonderful glimpse into what life in Venice was like in the latter half of the 19th Century.
Ortega is most well-known for his use of a bright sky to illuminate highly detailed architectural features on the buildings below. At first glance, many of his paintings look more like photographs than something created in oils. He would often ride the canals in a gondola and sketch the lives of the Venetians he encountered along with their homes and the many bridges crossing the canals. And, many of his famous paintings include people riding the waterways in gondolas.
To learn more about the artist and to visit a bit more of Venice through his eyes, please visit our biography on Martin Rico Ortega.