Venice, 1913 (circa)
14 x 17.8 cm
Inscriptions
signed with monogram (upper right); titled and inscribed, ‘[illegible] Venice / price [illegible]’ (verso, upper centre); signed, ‘Edwin H Holgate’ (verso, lower right)Provenance
Private collection, Montreal
By descent to the present private collection, Westmount, Quebec
The review of our present selection of fine works by members of the Beaver Hall Group of artists introduced the Group previously with a text and image of a highly important painting by the artist William Brymner who in his day was President of the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts. Here we continue with an Edwin Holgate sketch of 1913, a painting basking in the impressionist's light, simply a "beautiful" picture, and exemplary of the finest of roots of many of the artists later known as the Beaver Hall Group. Collectors and students of the period will know that Edwin Holgate was a founding member of the Group and with Adam Sherriff Scott co-signed the lease for the premises on Beaver Hall Hill they shared. Holgate later became a member of the Group of Seven.
Whether Edwin Holgate attended Claude Monet's first exhibition of his Venetian paintings in Paris at Galerie Bernheim Jeune in May of 1912 we do not know. Maybe it was the popular influence of the theories of light and impressionism among western art teaching at the time, including his studies with Maurice Cullen back in Montreal, combined with the natural allure of Venice that resulted in this exquisite sketch.
"It's the light, and the way he has captured this truly evanescent moment in time. I mean, it's just so beautiful," is how Melissa Buron described Monet's paintings of Venice (The Guardian, "Monet Venice Paintings Exhibition, de Young San Francisco" March 24, 2026). With a strong element of self-interest, but no less integrity, permit us to describe Holgate's painting offered here, emphasizing "it's just so beautiful".
Thanks to Edwin Holgate, (Montreal: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 2005, page 14), by Rosalind Pepall and Brian Foss, we know that in April of 1913 through to mid June, along with two traveling companions, "...Holgate set off on a bicycle trip through France, Switzerland, and Italy," an itinerary which they recorded included Venice.
Shown is a monogram Edwin Holgate occasionally used to sign his artwork, prior to his return to Canada at the onset of WWI. As a personal anecdote, Edwin Holgate related to me (Alan Klinkhoff) directly that, while on the long train journey back to Canada from the Ukraine, because the Atlantic ports were closed, going all the way east returning via the Pacific, he spent some time toying with his signature and how he wrote his initials.
— Alan Klinkhoff
