Lessore, Jules (1849 – 1892) – Italy; Ca’ d’Oro, Venice.

Lessore was the son of the great ceramic artist and painter Emile Lessore (1805-1876). He was born in Paris and settled in England in the 1870s. As both his son Frederick (a sculptor and founder of the Beaux Arts Gallery) and daughter Therese (a painter and wife of Walter Sickert) are unquestionably British artists, he is often considered one too. That said, his work, typified by this rich watercolour made on the Grand Canal, retains a distinctly French feel. It always contains at least a nod towards the watercolours made by the Barbizon school of his father's generation.