Pair of Venetian cityscapes by Marie Joseph Léon Clavel
$44,850.00
1850–1923 | French
Soir sur la Salute, Venise, la nuit and Dogana di mare
(Evening on the Salute, Venice) and (Sea Customs)
Each: Signed and inscribed “Iwill / Venice" (lower left and right)
Oil on panels
This exquisite pair of Venetian landscapes by the French painter Marie Joseph Léon Clavel, known as Iwill, presents a poetic meditation on light and atmosphere. Rendered with Iwill’s signature vaporous touch, Soir sur la Salute, Venise, la nuit and Dogana di mare offer a dreamlike vision of Venice, one bathed in the rose-tinged glow of twilight, the other in the bluish stillness of evening. They form a radiant diptych—two distinct impressions of the same city.
In Soir sur la Salute, Venise, la nuit, soft pink and purple reflections ripple across the water’s surface, foregrounding the majestic silhouette of the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute. The dome glows with a gentle orange light, diffused as if emerging from the final breath of day. Gondolas and sailboats drift through the composition, their presence understated yet vital to the painting’s tranquil rhythm. Dogana di mare, by contrast, leans further into night: here, the Dogana’s elegant form emerges from a cool palette of blues and violets, its contours blurred by mist and moonlight. Together, the two paintings form a luminous dialogue, each capturing the ephemeral interplay of water, architecture, and shifting Venetian light.
A leading figure in the French art world of the late 19th century, Iwill was classically trained but embraced a deeply atmospheric approach to landscape. He adopted his pseudonym—a defiant “I will”—to affirm his determination to succeed, and indeed he did. A founding member of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1885, he became a chevalier of the Légion d’honneur in 1894. These works embody the qualities that earned him that acclaim: delicate light effects, expressive brushwork, and a rare ability to distill the mood of a place into something timeless and ethereal.
Late 19th century
Each panel: 25" high x 14" wide (63.50 x 35.56 cm)
Each frame: 30 1/2" high x 19 1/4" wide x 2 3/4" deep (77.47 x 48.90 x 6.99 cm)