During a year-long honeymoon spent exploring France and Italy, the artist continued to find inspiring subject matter for his work. In Venice, he focused less on the grand palazzos and winding canals and more on capturing the city’s residents going about their daily activities, an emphasis that correlated to the genre pictures created over a decade earlier by his mentor Duveneck, according to Laurene Buckley.[1] Consequently, his new bride was also a valued subject. In Portrait of the Artist’s Wife Philena, Venice, she is captured in a moment of repose in a garden, as spots of sunlight fall on her hair, shoulders and lace collar, with more brilliant pools illuminating the background greenery.

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Provenance:

By descent through the family of the artist

Exhibitions:

Bringing to Light: Theodore Wendel, Vose Galleries, Boston, October 19 – December 7, 2019