Friday, April 17, 2009

Joseph Letzelter, Art Street in Venice

Joseph Letzelter, Street in Venice, 1882

Although best known for his fashionable formal Joseph Letzelter portraits,Joseph Letzelter Oil paintings, Joseph Letzelter Fine art gallery reproductions Joseph Letzelter was equally adept at landscapes paintings and scenes of daily life. Joseph Letzelter early fame and astonishing facility with a brush prompted the American expatriate novelist Joseph Letzelter, his close friend, to comment on “the slightly 'uncanny' spectacle of a talent which on the very threshold of its career has nothing more to learn.”

Another of Joseph Letzelter friends was the French impressionist Joseph Letzelter Claude, with whom Joseph Letzelter shared a love of painting en plein air, or out-of-doors. Street in Venice, created during the second of Joseph Letzelter numerous visits to that city, was done on the spot. Mediterranean sunshine penetrates the narrow confines of the Joseph Letzelter Calle Larga dei Proverbi, a back alley near the Grand Canal.

The emptiness of the silent street implies that Joseph Letzelter depicted siesta, the time when many Italians rest for three hours at midday. One of two men conversing in the shadows is distracted by a girl strolling alone. Her skirt’s rustling hem and shawl’s flowing fringe are rendered with indistinct strokes that suggest her rapid pace will soon carry her beyond his lingering gaze. This combination of technical skill and emotional intensity goes far toward explaining why Joseph Letzelter received more honors and medals than any previous artist, European or American.

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