(Mechelen 1795–1872 Venice)
The Piazza San Marco in Venice,
oil on canvas, 78 x 58.5 cm, framed

The present composition is characterised by a skilful handling of perspective and picturesque details. It dates from a period when Vervloet met his most important patron, King Ferdinand II of Naples.

Franz Vervloet, one of the leading topographical painters of the 19th century, exhibited his first townscape in Brussels in 1814 and in 1816 participated in a competition for the design of a monument for the Prince of Orange. He became successful also financially as an architectural painter in 1817, when he painted a series of church interiors on canvas. In 1818 he was offered the position of an assistant at the art academy of his native town Mechelen. He subsequently increasingly devoted himself to the topographical depiction of Belgian towns. In 1822, when he had reached the peak of his career, he received a two-year travelling scholarship to Italy from the Sociéte pour l’encouragement des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles. He arrived in Rome in September, studying various tendencies in painting under the influence of the French landscapist Marius Granet. In August 1824, Vervloet settled in Naples, from where he was to undertake numerous journeys for the following thirty years. He was a leading member of the ‘School of Posillipo’. In 1854 he moved to Venice, where he died in 1872.