Venice Opera House Watercolor Painting

During my first painting trip to venice I purchased an opera ticket and went to the famous opera house Teatro La Fenichi. I had never seen such a magnificent interior with all the gilding and carving and the beautiful lighting. This is a painting I did of the grand balcony with the opera buffs waiting for the performance to start. A year or so after I finished this painting the opera house burned to the ground. It took the Italian craftsmen 8 years to rebuild and the new opera house is exactly like the old one. I was there on my last trip to Venice and was amazed and delighted to see Teatro La Fenichi in all it’s glory. Finding something like this for a subject was a wonderful challenge and I liked this painting so much I put it in my private collection. Evening now I can’t look at it without thinking of Venice and all the history associated with that unique city.