WATER COLOR RENDERINGS OF VENICE By PIERRE VIGNA

                           _Introduction By_

                         WILLIAM ROBERT POWELL

              J. H. JANSEN, PUBLISHER CLEVELAND, O. 1925




LIST OF PLATES

  Ponte del Paradise
  A Rio
  Colleone
  The Rialto
  The Piazetta
  Piazza San Marco
  The Clock Tower
  Entrance to the Palace
  A Street
  San Marco, A Doorway
  Entrance to the Ducal Palace
  Canal of the Church of The Madonna de Miracoli
  San Rocco
  San Giorgio from the Giudecca
  Riva Degli Schiavoni

  _Cover and Tide Page Designed by
        C. L. Aiken_




PIERRE VIGNAL AND HIS TECHNIQUE


[Illustration: 1855-1925]

THE WATER COLORS of Pierre Vignal rank as the foremost in contemporary
French art. He uses water color in its true sense of being a transparent
and not an opaque medium. There is no chinese white on his palette.

Each operation in producing a picture is final. No washes are gone over
a second time. In this way he attains the maximum of transparency and
his pictures are free from spots or muddy and opaque blotches of color.

The drawing of a subject is carefully done with a soft pencil and in a
fine light line, so that it will not show in the picture after the color
is applied. Drawing is as important in his work as color and value.

Pierre Vignal has so well mastered his art that he can visualize the
finished picture, both as to color and value, before he applies any
color.

His work is based on the principle that the subject should be simple,
treated in a broad way and free from much detail. The reproductions in
this portfolio are nearly the exact size of the original pictures, his
theory being that a water color should be small, as the medium does not
permit the covering of as large a surface as oil. The interest must be
confined to a central point with usually one predominant dark and light
value, each being in sharp contrast.

In making his pictures, M. Vignal first applies the sky, which is as
important in value as in color. Thus the picture is started at the top
of the paper and finished at the bottom, as the next operation consists
in putting in the dominant shadows, which are usually done in one
operation, and finally the highlights and darker values on the shadows.
When the sky and shadows are completed the main values of the picture
are established, and the highlights being thin and transparent do not
change the other values.

Most of the color is mixed on the paper as the work progresses and not
on the palette, thus a pleasing transparent change and variety of color
is obtained which can be seen by a study of the shadows and highlights
in the plates.

Some of the color is applied rather dry, some of it very wet and again
the surface of the paper is moistened and the color is put on and
allowed to spread through this moist surface to produce varied effects
and contrasts. To quote from Leopold Honore in the _Journal des
Artistes_:

“Whether his water colors are of Italy, The Villa D’Este, Granada,
Morocco, Nimes, Avignon or Paris, they are always out-of-doors, full of
truth, light and sunshine and real fascination of color. One feels and
sees that everything is painted with masterly skill, without a
discordant note. Everything is in a vibrating note, but always remaining
harmonious.”

(Original Preface)

                                                  WILLIAM ROBERT POWELL
                                        _Former Pupil of Pierre Vignal_




  PORTFOLIOS OF WATER COLOR
  RENDERINGS BY PIERRE VIGNAL

  Venice (Out of Print)

  Gardens of Rome

  Northern Italian Cities

  Palestine

  Naples


[Illustration: VENICE--PONTE DEL PARADISO]

[Illustration: VENICE--A Rio]

[Illustration: VENICE--VEROCCHIO BARTOLOMEO COLLEONI]

[Illustration: VENICE--THE RIALTO]

[Illustration: VENICE--THE PIAZZETTA]

[Illustration: VENICE--PIAZZA SAN MARCO]

[Illustration: VENICE--THE CLOCK TOWER]

[Illustration: VENICE--ENTRANCE TO THE PALACE]

[Illustration: VENICE--A STREET]

[Illustration: VENICE--SAN MARCO A DOORWAY]

[Illustration: VENICE--ENTRANCE TO THE DUCAL PALACE]

[Illustration: VENICE--CANAL OF THE CHURCH OF THE MADONNA DEI MIRACOLI]

[Illustration: VENICE--SAN ROCCO]

[Illustration: VENICE--SAN GIORGIO FROM THE GIUDECCA]

[Illustration: VENICE--RIVA DEGLI SCHIAVONI]