An elegant composition capturing a late afternoon slice of life in Venice of well-dressed people walking the quayside promenade, their lifestyles in contrast to the gondoliers, women with baskets of fish and others plying their trades on the waterways of Venice. The stone boardwalk is active with water fowl as well as people, and they are all enjoying the day's beauty, especially the small child wearing a light blue sash. Unterberger captures the setting light radiating splashes of golden yellow and warm pink tones in the sky to cast a bright illumination over a serene moment. The artist has used a pallette knife to flatten portions of the background sky, with it creating a very unusual method of relating depth and distance. The closer subjects, including the majestic Santa Maria della Salute, are painted on top of the sky layer.
Unterberger didn't look past the presence of ships, one with a lanteen rig employing a red-and-white sail prominent amongst scattered others. Several gondoliers are just launching, while a large luxury steam yacht begins to get underway before the architectural grandeur across the channel. The finely dressed walkers with top-hats, shawls and umbrellas in view in significant numbers make a nice contrast with the emerging foliage starting to over reach the estate walls. A very nice summery scene of a late afternoon in Venice.
