The Little Park, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, gouache on parchment, roughly 8 x 10″ (20 x 24 cm); in the collection of the Morgan Library and Museum, NY.

I had the pleasure of seeing this delightful little gouache painting by the 18th century French Rococo painter in a show at the Morgan several years ago. I was aware of the larger oil of the same subject in the Wallace Collection in England (which I will feature in a subsequent post), and assumed this was a study for that painting.

However, the Morgan Library’s description indicates that this is a “small replica” of the larger work, presumed to have been done a year later than the oil.

Both the oil and this gouache painting have a great deal of visual charm, each in a way that takes good advantage of the respective strengths of the medium. There is also an etching of the same subject.

Scuola Grande di San Marco and the Ponte Cavallo on the Rio dei Mendicanti, Venice, Rubens Santoro; oil on canvas, roughly 33 x 26″ (85 x 66 cm). Link is to Christie’s past auction.

I don’t know the location of the original. I sourced the image from a 2016 Christie’s Auction, so I assume it’s in a private collection.

Rubens Santoro was a late 19th/early 20th century painter known for his views of Venice. Scuola Grande di San Marco is a historic building that was less a specifically a school, and more a center for religious and social activities.

I love the contrast between the highly rendered facade of the building and the painterly, almost impressionist, handling of the water. santoro achieves awonderful feeling of light and atmosphere, grounded in a firm command of geometry and perspective.

If the two arches to the flanks of the main doorway look a little out of perspective with the rest of the building, it’s because they are actually trompe l’œil images rendered in different types of marble, along with what appear to be bas-relief sculptural elements.