Raffaele Mainella (1856-1941) Mother And Child In The Venetian Lagoon. Watercolor. Signed

Our watercolor is bathed in a soft, hazy atmosphere characteristic of Mainella's Venetian works.This touching scene depicts the departure of a fisherman watched by his wife and child.

Raffaele Mainella was an Italian painter, decorator, and architect born in Benevento in 1856 and died in Venice in 1941. He trained at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, where he distinguished himself early on by his great precision of execution and a clearly defined pictorial sensibility. At the beginning of his career, he painted mainly in oils, favoring lively Venetian landscapes, noted for the vibrancy of the light and scenes of daily life. He then turned to watercolor, a medium in which he became one of Italy's most renowned watercolorists, particularly with views of Venice, Egypt, and the Holy Land. His success brought him a significant international clientele: the German Emperor acquired some of his works, and in 1901, he exhibited at the Le Petit Gallery in Paris at the invitation of French critics and patrons. At the same time, Mainella pursued a car eer as a decorator and architect for a cosmopolitan elite (Baroness Ernesta Stern, Madame Douine-Hériot, Duchess of Marchena), designing and decorating palaces, villas, and gardens in Venice, Paris, on the French Riviera, and in northern France, often in a spectacular Neo-Gothic style. A traveler, he spent time in the Near East (Palestine, Syria, Egypt), where he produced numerous Orientalist watercolors and illustrated several books. Settling in Venice, he divided his time between the lagoon city and summer retreats to Chioggia or Pellestrina, continuing his work until his progressive loss of sight before his death on the Lido in 1941.