William Callow R.W.S. 1812-1908

The present watercolour is Callow's earliest known work from his honeymoon trip to Venice in August 1846.  On 2nd July that year Callow married Harriet Anne (nee Smart) and the following day they set off on their ten week honeymoon.   They travelled up the Rhine and across Switzerland before reaching Italy.  In his journal, Callow describes how he and his wife went from Verona to Vicenza...'where we took the train to Venice, and rowed up the Grand Canal to Hotel Europa late in the evening.  The calm and quietitude were heavenly after several weeks of travelling by dilligence and rail.  The city at this period belonged to Austria, and Austrian soldiers were to be seen everywhere.  The Austrians and Venetians kept quite apart, each had their separate cafes on either side of the Piazza.  Still it was Venice, the same as of old...' (see H.M.Cundall, ed., William Callow An Autobiography, 1908, p.98).  During the following week, before leaving the city on the 19th August, Callow explored the city and sketched as many views as possible, often from a gondola, and later remarked: 'I never grew tired of sketching its glorious buildings.' (ibid., p.141).

A watercolour by Callow of the Riva Degli Shiavoni, Venice, the same size as the present work and similarly squared for transfer, was sold in these Rooms on 26th March 2004, lot 88 for £33,600