SIR JAMES JEBUSA SHANNON R.A., R.B.A., R.H.A.

The Artist and thence by descent

Christie's, London, 11 December 2014, lot 50

This view of the church of San Giorgio Maggiore was possibly painted in 1906, the year Shannon won a gold medal at the Venice International Exhibition. Alternatively it could have been painted in the summer of 1912 when he and his family spent three weeks in Venice whilst on a motoring tour of Europe. The painting recalls the nocturnes of his friend, the American artist James McNeill Whistler who had been an early supporter of Shannon’s art. The admiration was reciprocal and Shannon owned Whistler’s Blue and Silver: Trouville (Smithsonian Institution, Freer Gallery of Art, Washington DC.)