Louis Abel Truchet - View Of Venice - Around 1910

A student of Benjamin Constant and Jules Lefebvre at the Académie Julian in Paris, Louis Abel-Truchet produced numerous paintings of Parisian nightlife at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. He stayed in Venice several times between 1910 and 1913. The Musée d'Orsay notably holds a view of the Doge's Palace from 1913. We believe we recognize in our painting the Basilica del Redentore on the island of Giudecca. Abel-Truchet's post-impressionist style is perfectly represented here. The painting is dedicated to Bagnolet, a member of the Société des humoristes founded in 1907 by the artist with Louis Vallet. Abel-Truchet was named a knight of the Legion of Honour in 1911. During the First World War, he was recruited by the engineers, putting his skills as a painter to the benefit of the camouflage section, where he assisted Guirand de Scévola. He died from a war wound shortly before the end of hostilities. After his death, his widow, Julia Abel-Truchet, took up her husband's brushes, whom she had succeeded in the studio, and enjoyed success with her portraits and views of gardens in bloom.