Lot 1538 Dα

Additionally signed by the artist to the reverse of the unlined canvas: "F. Nerly / Contarini".<BR>Friedrich Nerly was born in Erfurt in 1807, but was brought up in Hamburg following the early death of his parents. He began travelling across Italy with his teacher Baron von Rumohr in 1827 and reached Rome in late 1829, where he remained for six years. Instead of returning to Germany as planned in 1837, the artist took up residence in Venice and married the adoptive daughter of a Venetian aristocrat. Aside from a few short trips, he remained in the City of Water until his death in 1878. <BR>Nerly's views of Venice brought him immense success in his day, and he frequently received famous and even royal visitors to the city in his studio. The Piazzetta by moonlight became one of his most popular motifs, and he produced numerous variations on it without any two images ever being entirely alike. The artist also depicted the subject of the present work several times, for example a watercolour in the Angermuseum in Erfurt, as well as numerous versions in oils, some of which are also kept in the Angermuseum. The present work is characterised by a more generous view of the architecture, showing the narrow Palazetto Contarini Fasan, located to the right of the Grand Canal opposite Santa Maria della Salute, flanked by the first sections and the edge of the neighbouring palazzi.<BR>Nerly has combined an exact topographical depiction of the richly decorated late gothic palazetto with the literary figure of Desdemona. The young woman stands at a balcony, turned to face a white cockatoo perched upon her arm with its wings outstretched to hold its balance. To the lower right beneath the balcony and unnoticed by the damsel, we see a slim gondolier gazing wistfully up at her.<BR>We would like to thank Dr. Wolfram Morath-Vogel in Erfurt for confirming the authenticity of this work.