Antonietta Brandeis

With Cooling Galleries, London;

Acquired by the family of the present owner circa 1920.

Antonietta Brandeis was a Czech artist, who traveled to Venice from Prague with her widowed mother in 1860. In 1867, she enrolled in l'Accademia di Belle Arti, where she was a successful pupil and graduated at the top of her class as one of only two female students. Brandeis devoted much of her œuvre to small scale Italian vedute , which were the perfect memento for tourists visiting Italy as part of the Grand Tour, such as the present work. The square is sparsely populated with figures strolling or in discussion, the Basilica, Vatican Obelisk and fountain designed by Bernini sparkle in the sun. The work was inherited by the late wife of the present owner. Her mother had originally been gifted it by a boyfriend (presumably bought from Cooling Galleries) in the early 1920s and it has remained in the same family collection since.