An introduction to the painting from the artist, Andrew Talbot: "It’s been 20 years since we last visited inspirational Venice. Earlier this summer we were fortunate enough to visit once again en-route to a long awaited hike in the Dolomites. We had a special few hours early in the day in Venice before the tourists flocked into the city. Venice just oozes such a special quality. You couldn't be mistaken of being anywhere else on earth. This scene shows the young Gondolier taking an early morning customer through one the narrow canals running south from the Canal de Cannaregio. The sun is hitting the east facing wall whilst the west walls remain in partial shade, with subtler hues contrasting with the illuminated facade on the left. In the composition the viewers eye is lead up and right into the distance before retreating down the canal and out via the outstretched oar in the bottom right corner. Interesting note- The oar or ‘rèmo’ is held in an oarlock known as a fórcola. The forcola is often a complicated shape, allowing several positions of the oar for slow forward rowing, powerful forward rowing, turning, slowing down, rowing backwards, and stopping.In this case the fórcola was decorated in gold leaf patterns."
