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An oil painting of a scene in Venice. Water all along bottom half of scene, with boats docked in upper left corner. Some men walking down steps towards the gondolas. Four blue pillars stand out of water in upper right. Frame is gold painted wood, carved at corners and along inner border. Carrig-Rohane frame.
oil paintings (visual works)
canvas
oil paint (paint)
Painting
Anna Phillips inherited a large collection of furnishings, jewelry, and art upon her Aunt Anna Peabody's death in 1911. Many of these pieces graced the rooms at the Phillips House in Salem, Massachusetts. The Phillips collection contains a number of works by Herman Dudley Murphy, a locally born artist, known not only for his work in Impressionism, but also his hand-carved frames that accentuate his paintings.
"Artful Stories": Hermann Dudley Murphy is known for quiet, almost poetic scenes that avoid strong contrasts of light and shade. After studying at the Boston Museum School and spending five years in France, he became an active member of Bostons art community. In 1908 he revisited Venice, where he made this scene highlighting the impressionistic shimmer of water. Equally admirable is the hand-carved frame. Inspired by James McNeill Whistlers belief that frames and paintings should harmonize, in 1903 Murphy cofounded the framing firm of Carrig-Rohane, named after the studio-house he created in Winchester, Massachusetts, that same year.
"M" (in a circle at bottom right of painting)
Original to Phillips House (Salem, Mass.),
P169
FA014
Murphy, Hermann Dudley, 1867-1945 (Artist)
Venice, Italy
31 1/2 x 38 5/8 x 3 6/16 (HxWxD) (inches)
Gift of the Stephen Phillips Memorial Charitable Trust for Historic Preservation
2006.44.592
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