She rests her arms on a stone balcony in heavy Renaissance dress, hair dressed high, the bottle-glass windows of old Venice behind her — gaze fixed somewhere just past us, unhurried and certain of herself.
Burton was still working on her in 1874 when Gladstone offered him the directorship of the National Gallery in London. He accepted, and all but stopped painting. The picture stayed in his studio, never exhibited in his lifetime; Dublin bought it in 1901, the year after he died.
About this work
A Venetian Courtesan was made by the Irish artist Frederic William Burton (1816–1900), born in Co. Clare, in 1873–74 — watercolour, gouache, chalk, pastel and graphite on paper, 95.5 × 68.5 cm. The costume and setting look back to Titian and Veronese. It hangs in the National Gallery of Ireland (NGI.2387), which also holds Burton's pencil study for it (NGI.19369). This print is an open edition, made to order and shipped worldwide.
Archival matte paper, 250gsm (110lb), acid-free and FSC-certified — off-white, uncoated. Framed prints: solid oak or ash wood frame, 20mm thick, with shatterproof protective glazing. Ready to hang, hanging kit included. Unframed prints up to A4 ship flat; larger sizes ship rolled in a protective tube.
Free Worldwide Shipping
Framed prints are packed with protective corners and wrap, boxed with reinforced edges, and braced with internal supports for extra rigidity (max 3 frames per package). Every order ships free, made to order and delivered from the hub closest to you: Ireland 3–7 business days · UK 4–8 · USA 5–10 · Canada 6–12 · Australia 7–14.
Hangs well with
Burton could not tolerate the smell of oil paint, so the work is watercolour and drawing throughout — one hand, one medium.
