Lancelot-Théodore TURPIN de CRISSÉ (Paris, 1782 - 1859 ) View of a canal in Venice - Barque loaded with barrels preparing to pass under the bridge of a small canal Oil on canvas (Original canvas) Dated '1829' on the boat lower right Canvas from SOUTY fils, Paris View of a canal in Venice, oil on canvas, dated, by L.-T. Turpin de Crissé 16.14 x 12.00 in. 41 x 30.5 cm Provenance: Anonymous sale; Paris, Hôtel Drouot, Olivier Doutrebente, 28 May 2021, no. 21 (as attributed to Lancelot-Théodore Turpin de Crissé); Private collection from the South of France Well-known for his generous donation of objets d'art and antiques to the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Angers, Lancelot Théodore Turpin de Crissé was also a talented painter who produced numerous views from life during his many visits to Italy. Working alongside his godfather, Count Marie-Gabriel-Florent-Auguste de Choiseul-Gouffier (1752-1817), the young Turpin de Crissé discovered Rome and the surrounding area, Florence and Naples. From 1806, he began exhibiting his landscapes and historical views at the Salon. In the Serenissima, which he visited for a second time from 1829 to 1838 as chamberlain to Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais, Turpin de Crissé sketched the daily life of the Venetians with passion. Here, he depicts the bustle of a varied crowd near the canals and on the bridges that span them, and brilliantly captures the movement of the gondoliers as they skilfully manoeuvre their barrel-laden boats. At the time of our painting, in 1829, he was appointed a member of the Venice Academy of Fine Arts. Our painting appears to illustrate the painter's pictorial research during his Venetian sojourn: the singular viewpoints afforded by the city's original topography, and the contrasting light effects on the buildings created by the narrow canals. This rather low viewpoint, perhaps captured from a gondola, can also be seen in the View of the church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli in Venice (Angers, Musée d'Angers, inv. MTC 35). His taste for light, his rendering of masses and planes, and his sense of the articulation of volumes can also be seen in other representations of the canals of Venice, such as the painting presented for sale at Drouot on 25 May 1984 (lot 111). Lancelot-Théodore TURPIN de CRISSÉ (Paris, 1782 - 1859 ) 41 x 30.5 cm