Campo San Polo, Venice (ink)

Richard Beer (1928-2017)

A stunning original drawing in black ink and pencil by Richard Beer, of the Campo San Paolo in Venice.  It has come from the artist’s personal archives.

Signed Lower right in pencil, dated Monday Sep 15, possibly an in situ preparatory drawing for a painting, as Beer was known to do.  Beer travelled widely in France and Italy and avidly sketched, painted and drew the rural and architectural landscapes that inspired him, they are effectively a visual diary of his life over this time.   

In this scene the artist has captured the beautiful façade of the buildings with great skill.  As often seen in his works, we have faceless figures going about their business, adding a touch of humour to the scene, here we have a man with his dog and another seated on a bench.  The seated lady further up on the right shows the artist either changed his mind about the composition or was using the side of the paper as a sketch area. All in all it is quite charming.

Provenance:  from the estate of the late Richard Beer

Measurements: 40 x 50cm

Condition: It is in very good condition overall, it has some ink splashes on the sheet, all authentic, and a couple of drawing pin holes

This work has now been sold