Venetian Façde
Mortimer Ludington Menpes RI RBA RE, 1860-1938
Watercolour
c. 1860-61
14 1/4 x 3 1/4 inches (10.7 x 8.3 cm)
Original frame 12 1/2 X 11 1/4 inches (32 x 28.5 cm)
Menpes was something of a hybrid. Born in Australia of a family of means, he was taught in England and France. In the winter of 1881-2 Menpes first met James McNeill Whistler in the galleries of The FAS a year after Whistler had returned from Venice.
Whistler was pleased with the critical admiration his pupil received but appears not to have approved of Menpes' next step which was, in 1887, to travel to Japan. Whistler was infuriated by his pupil's self-conscious break with all his precepts, not least because, when he showed his Japanese paintings in London he refused to sign himself "Pupil of Whistler" Whistler never forgave Menpes, although it has been suggested that the real cause of Whistler's ire was Menpes' elopement with his mistress. Later Menpes travelled widely in Europe, India, Burma, Mexico, Egypt, Morocco and South Africa.
References
The Fine Art Society Story. Part I. London: The Fine Art Society, 2001. Catalogue Number 101.
The Fine Art Society, London, has most generously given its permission to use information, images, and text from its catalogues in the Victorian Web. This generosity has led to the creation of hundreds and hundreds of the site's most valuable documents on painting, drawing, sculpture, furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, metalwork, and the people who created them. The copyright on text and images from their catalogues remains, of course, with the Fine Art Society. [GPL]
Last modified 2001