01 work, PORTRAIT OF A LADY, Antonio Ermolao Paoletti's Feeding the Pigeons, with Footnotes #215

Antonio Ermolao Paoletti, Italian, 1834 - 1912

Feeding the Pigeons, Piazza San Marco, Venice

Oil on canvas

24 by 35¾ in.; 60.9 by 90.8 cm

Private collection

All it takes is a handful of birdseed to transform any tourist visiting Venice's historic St. Mark's Square into a human perch for a fluttering mass of pushy pigeons.

Venice has long been concerned with the potential hazards the birds pose to human health, not to mention the damage caused by their guano and taste for marble. More on this painting

Born in the coastal city of Valencia, Francisco Miralles y Galup moved to Paris with his family in 1866 and remained in the French capital for the next 27 years. He studied under Arturo Canela, whose studio became the meeting place for Catalán artists in the city. Fortuitously, his fellow countryman Eduardo Zamacois introduced him to the prestigious art dealer Adolphe Goupil, the agent for Boldini, Bouguereau, Gérôme and other notable 19th-century artists. Goupil commissioned numerous works from Miralles and steered him towards elegant society subjects, for which he became best known. Miralles' talents as a painter soon became widely appreciated, and his work avidly collected. He was a regular exhibitor at the Paris Salons, in the Sala Parés in Barcelona and at numerous international exhibitions in London, Berlin, and America where his work coveted. More on Francisco Miralles y Galup

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