Mod Sanctuary Antiques and Fine Art Gallery

ARTHUR VIDAL DIEHL (UNITED KINGDOM/UNITED STATES, 1870-1929) 100% ABSOLUTELY UNTOUCHED & UNALTERED, ESTATE FRESH & NEW to the MARKETPLACE, SIGNED OIL on ARTIST BOARD, VENETIAN SCENE, featuring THE ADRIATIC SEA, VENETIAN DOCKS, ILLUMINATED, LATE AFTERNOON, SUN BATHED VENETIAN ARCHITECTURE, MULTIPLE FIGURES ATTENDING VARIOUS GONDOLAS & LARGER MASTED SAILING VESSELS, SIGNED ARTHUR V. DIEHL in LOWER RIGHT on PICTORIAL FIELD, in 1940'S/50'S PERIOD
GESSOED WOOD FRAME
[Found in a well-appointed southern New Hampshire fine estate]
(Circa 1895-1915)
Late 19th to early 20th century American Post-Impressionist seascape & landscape painting of European, North African & exotic foreign sites

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DIMENSIONS:

Frame: 14" Width x 22" Height

Painting: 9 ½" Width x 17 ½" Height

Weight: 2 lbs. 2 oz.

DESCRIPTION:

Offered for your review and consideration is this, just recently discovered in a finely appointed southern New Hampshire estate, fresh, absolutely untouched and uncleaned, original, authentic, late-afternoon, sunbathed Venetian harbor scene, done by the well-listed and well-collected British-American, Post-Impressionist painter, Arthur Vidal Diehl, who came from London, England and eventually settled in the artist colony of Provincetown, Massachusetts, electing to paint under the famous 'platinum skies,' many 'en plein aire' painters favored and coveted, which made artist colonies such as Provincetown, Rockport, MA and Ogunquit, Maine, so popular among painters. Here the academically well-trained painter Arthur Diehl trains his attention on a late afternoon, sun-drenched Venetian harbor, with the skirt of the Adriatic Sea (an extension northwards of the larger Mediterranean Sea) meeting the sunlight illuminated, neo-classical, Italianate towering architecture rising in the background. Large, masted sailing vessels appear moored in the harbor, while several figures attend to wooden gondolas, tied to wooden docks. The scene is sensitively painted with sharply angled, late afternoon sunlight, bathing the architectural horizon above the water with the reds, oranges and yellows of warm light, while Diehl quite capably and seemingly effortlessly, captures the cooler, now cast in shadow, foreground of water, with deep ultramarine and pthalo blues. Figures working the various returning or departing gondolas are also cast in this cooler, darker light in the foreground as well. There are several opposing elements operating in the painting, which act as formal plastic devices Arthur Diehl consciously incorporated and wielded, in order to create divergent pictorial temperatures, image depth of field and points of focus. This is clearly a masterwork by the much celebrated turn of the century British-born and American Post-Impressionist painter Arthur Vidal Diehl. The oil painting hasn't been cleaned and of course, could use professional cleaning and re-varnishing with fresh Damar varnish. We've elected to leave it alone and as we purchased it directly from the estate where it was taken from, after being in that same house for nearly as long as the descendants of the original owners, could remember. There are a few superficial surface scuffs to the old varnish occurring in the atmosphere and a very slight, nearly unnoticeable small abrasion in the artist board found near the center right margin of the oil on board. The painting was apparently reframed in what appears to be a post-WWII, gessoed, wide profile wooden picture frame, replacing what was no doubt an earlier period, thin profile frame, which would have been most likely the original picture frame to the painting. Just a remarkable, exciting period painting that hasn't been poorly or inadequately restored or as is often unfortunately the case, reduced by unworthy, well-intentioned, restorative hands. It awaits careful, professional cleaning and restoration. From the venerable hand of the well-listed Provincetown, Massachusetts painter Arthur Vidal Diehl, Venice in all of its turn-of-the-century, late afternoon splendor. Absolutely wonderful. Very fine.