The Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University announced June 15 that it has acquired Rio San Trovaso, Venice, a significant work by the great Spanish plein-air painter MartÃn Rico (1833-1908). The painting, an oil on canvas that measures 25-3/4 x 39-1/2 inches, is signed by the artist and was painted around 1900. It was purchased at auction from Sotheby’s in New York on April 18, with funds donated by The Meadows Foundation, and went on permanent display Saturday, June 16, at the Meadows Museum.
During the last decades of the 19th century, Rico was one of Spain’s most important, innovative and internationally admired landscape painters. He presented his works in the Salons and the Universal Expositions, and his paintings were acquired by such prominent European and American collectors as Collis Potter Huntington, William T. Walters and Henry Clay Frick.
“We are thrilled to have acquired this important work, which has allowed us to fill a major gap in our collection, both in our 19th-century holdings and in the landscape genre,” said Dr. Mark Roglán, director of the Meadows Museum.
A lecture series devoted to Rico and painting in Venice during the Impressionist period is being developed for the fall along with special educational programming.
– compiled by Daily Campus staff
