TitlePiazza San Trovaso
Artist
Robert Baxter
(American, b. 1933)
Date1979-1983
MediumEtching and engraving
DimensionsSheet size: 17 1/4 × 26 3/4 in.
Plate size: 9 3/4 × 22 3/4 in.
Mat size: 22 × 36 in.
Edition63/170
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, Gift of the artist
Object number2006.4
Label TextDraughtsman and painter, Robert Baxter draws inspiration from the classical tradition that has descended from Poussin and Ingres through Degas and others to the present. Born and raised in Milwaukee, Baxter studied at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, completing his MFA there. In the early 1960s he began teaching at San Diego State University and spent his sabbatical year living in Italy in 1969. Frustrated with the academic environment at the university and having fallen in love with Rome, Baxter soon left San Diego and became a permanent resident for many years in the Italian capital. He now lives and works in Southern California.At the time that he completed "Piazza San Trovaso" Baxter was working in a studio in the Trastervere quarter in Rome with a number of other Americans including Jack Zajac, Morton Kaish, and James McGarrell. While on a trip to Venice Baxter discovered the subject of this print. Baxter and his friend, painter Philip Guston, were searching for works by Tiepolo and came across this boatyard. He was immediately struck by the strong formal qualities of the gondolas and the dynamic recession into space created by the composition that the artist decided to make a print and painting of the subject.
