Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art

About this Work

Florence exerted a special attraction for British and American artists and writers in the late nineteenth century; the city--and its expatriate and tourist community--figures prominently in the novels of Henry James and E. M. Forster. The city also hosted a large population of English-speaking artists. Like fellow American Charles Herbert Moore, Harold Broadfield Warren was inspired by John Ruskin's admiration for clearly delineated, highly detailed, realistic painting.

Many artists were drawn to the architecture of Florence's historic quarter. The Badia Fiorentina, depicted in the background of this watercolor, was a Benedictine monastery dating to the tenth century. Its slender, Gothic bell tower is one of the Florentine skyline's most distinctive features. The figures in the foreground provide a humanized contrast the imposing architecture and a sense of scale. This famous landmark figures in another watercolor by Warren in the Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art's collection (EMA 2003.12).