Ermo Zago (bovolone, 1880 – Milan, 1942) View Of The Doge’s Palace In Venice, Circa 1920

Ermo Zago (Bovolone, 1880 – Milan, 1942)

View of the Doge’s Palace in Venice, circa 1920

Oil on wooden panel, 27 × 19.5 cm (without frame)

46 × 39 cm (with frame)

Original black-painted wooden frame with guilloché decoration

An elegant example of the Italian interpretation of Impressionism. And where better than Venice could one play with colour, reflections and light? Zago captures a quiet everyday moment before the Doge’s Palace: a woman with her child seated on a gondola chair, while a young girl feeds the pigeons.

His quick, fragmented brushwork dissolves form into light, giving the scene a gentle rhythm. It is a Venetian view seen not as spectacle, but as lived atmosphere — a conversation between colour and air.

Signed lower left “Ermo Zago.”

Good overall condition. Original wooden frame with guilloché motif.

Ermo Zago
Born in Bovolone near Verona in 1880, Ermo Zago trained at the Cignaroli Academy and later moved to Milan in 1901. He regularly exhibited at the Permanente, the Brera Academy, and the Famiglia Artistica. His paintings — urban scenes, Venetian views, mothers and children — combine the Venetian tradition of light with a personal, lyrical form of Impressionism.

In 1923, King Vittorio Emanuele III acquired his painting The Pond of Milan’s Public Gardens for the Quirinale collections. Zago’s works are now held in public and private collections, including the Galleria d’Arte Moderna in Milan and the Quirinale Palace.