Artwork
Santa Maria della Salute
Santa Maria della Salute is a watercolor work on paper by the Contemporary Realist artist Carole Robb. It dates from 2004 and is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
About this work
Carole Robb’s watercolour shows Venice’s Santa Maria della Salute church at dusk. It joins fourteen works tracing her 2003–04 trip from Rome to the Veneto. Like artists before her, she chose a classic Italian subject.
Her watercolour adds a stormy sky, thick clouds over the white dome. These sheets sit in a group at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Next, look up the British School in Rome.
Overview
Carole Robb’s watercolour depicts the Venetian church of Santa Maria della Salute at twilight, rendered in a palette of purples, yellows and reflective blues. The work is part of a series of fourteen pieces created during her 2003‑04 journey through Italy, now held by the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Subject & Meaning
The composition focuses on the distinctive rotunda of Santa Maria della Salute, set against a storm‑laden sky. By emphasizing the interplay of light on water and architecture, Robb evokes the atmospheric qualities that have long attracted artists to Venice’s canals and skies.
Technique & Style
Executed in watercolour with gouache accents, the piece combines simplified line work for the church’s silhouette with broad, saturated washes that suggest the evening’s shifting colours. The approach reflects a figurative sensibility rooted in old‑master painting, yet applied in a contemporary manner.
History & Provenance
Robb, a British artist who studied at the British School in Rome in the 1970s, produced this work as part of a larger series documenting her travels from Rome to the Veneto. The series, catalogued as E.3719‑3732 (2004), was acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum as a modern counterpart to its historic Grand Tour watercolours of Italy.
Context
Santa Maria della Salute, designed by Baldassare Longhena in the 17th century, is a frequent subject in the visual record of Venice. Robb’s choice aligns her with a tradition of British artists who, after their studies in Rome, turned to iconic Italian landmarks for inspiration, echoing the Grand Tour practice of earlier centuries.
Artist & collection
Artist
Carole Robb painted delicate watercolours of Italian cityscapes and canals in the early 2000s.
