Venetian Days: Henry James and Friends on the Grand Canal

A look at Venice in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and a view into a unique community of artists and writers that came to be known as the “Barbaro Circle” and which included the great American-born novelist Henry James.

Venice by the end of the 19th century had lost much of the glory it once had known. Crumbling palazzi, a bad economy and an overall sense of decay permeated the city. New writings published on the long-forgotten Venetian Renaissance painters and artists brought a new stream of visitors to the city including Henry James, John Singer Sargent and James McNeill Whistler among others.

American expatriate art connoisseurs such as the Dainal and Ariana Curtis and the great Isabella Stewart Gardner all made Venice a kind of home for a time. Much of the activity centered around the majestic Palazzo Barbaro on the Grand Canal which the Curtises bought and which became the scene of much entertaining and socializing among artists. 

This episode takes a look at what the city meant to Henry James on his many visits since his first in 1869 when he was a young man to his last in 1907. In addition, the show considers what it meant to other artists and how they interpreted it amidst a fascinating, eccentric, educated community of people flowing into the city. We will take a look at the two great works in which James captured the city and this community, The Aspern Papers (1888) and The Wings of the Dove (1902). 

Related episode: “Isabella Stewart Gardner and Her Museum: A Curated Life”