Alfred PollentineThe Grand Canal - Venice - 19th centuryAlfred Pollentine was a British painter of English and Italian landscapes, but his career was defined by magnificent views of Venice. While his first paintings captured British landscapes and coastal views, he discovered the lucrative market for Venetian scenes early in his career and grew to specialize in these. A subject well-covered by other artists of the era, Pollentine developed his own highly recognizable style of warm and whimsical scenes that mixed daily life with the moving architecture to capture the full romance of the city. These he painted in a loosely impressionistic style that is always rich in color and painted with a complex palette: the figures, water, boats and buildings are vigorously depicted in a swirl of brush-strokes. He exhibited works at the British Institute and at the Royal Society of British Artists in Suffolk Street from 1861 to 1880, but due to having a large and active market for his work he did not depend on exhibition for the majority of his business during his long career as an artist.H: 13 in. L: 16 1/4 in.