San Marco from the Piazetta 1913

Jules Schmalzigaug’s, San Marco from the Piazetta is a painting, made probably with oils, where, through dabs and dashes of paint, the artist captures the energy of a bustling Venetian square. I can imagine Schmalzigaug standing in the Piazetta, feeling the vibrant energy of the square. He loads his brush with thick daubs of ochre, red, and blue, recreating the warmth of the stone and capturing the transient light flickering across the architecture. The application is thick, troweled almost; the painting is all surface, all texture. The overall effect is a mosaic of color and form, with the architectural detail abstracted into planes of light and shadow. Look at how the dabs of paint are placed with such freedom and confidence! There’s a dialogue happening, not just between the artist and the subject but with other artists too. He may have been looking at the Post-Impressionists who broke down forms into their essential colors, or perhaps he was engaging with the Futurists’ obsession with capturing movement and dynamism.