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Signed ‘P. Forcella’ (lower right).
Sizes:
Frame: 48 × 56 cm | 18.9 × 22 in
Artwork: 32.5 × 40.5 cm | 12.8 × 15.9 in
Evening on a quiet Venetian rio: a Baroque church façade catches the last warm light, a red-tiled loggia overhangs the water, and boats and mooring posts throw long reflections across the dark canal. The small board is painted with a fluid, atmospheric touch, the architecture solid and the water alive.
Paolo Forcella, born in Naples in 1868, trained in the Neapolitan school and travelled to Egypt with his brother Nicola, one of the most admired Orientalists of his day; his own work ranges from Cairo street scenes to Italian views. This Venetian canal shows him at his most painterly, in the tradition of the Neapolitan vedutisti.
Signed ‘P. Forcella’ at the lower right.
Private Collection, Spain.
Oil on board, framed. Good condition; the paint layer is stable; minor wear to the gilt frame. Please contact us to request a detailed Condition Report.
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Paolo Forcella was born in Naples in 1868 and trained in the Neapolitan school at a time when Morelli, Dalbono and the painters of Posillipo had made the city one of the liveliest centres of Italian painting. With his brother Nicola Forcella, one of the most admired Orientalists of the period, he travelled to Egypt, and Cairo street scenes, mosques and minarets became an important part of his output.
Back in Italy he painted the subjects of the Neapolitan vedutisti — the bay, the coast and, above all, Venice, whose canals and church façades he rendered in a fluid, atmospheric manner.
Forcella’s Venetian views combine solid architecture with living water: evening light on a Baroque façade, boats and mooring posts throwing long reflections across a quiet rio. His Orientalist works, often on paper, are more finely detailed.
The date of his death is not recorded. His paintings appear at auction in Italy, France and the United States and are held in private collections.
Highlights of the Aurora & Athena autumn sale on 17 October 2026: Bridget Tichenor, Nicholas Roerich, Konstantin Korovin, Gerard Sekoto, Jan Zrzavý, Pan Yuliang, a Miró lithograph and the painters of the École de Paris.
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