Monumental view of Venice was executed c. 1870s by American colonel in the Americal Civil War, writer and painter St. Clair Augustine Mulholland (1839 Lisburn / Ireland - 1910 Phialephia / USA). He later received the patents of brigadier general of volunteers and major general of volunteers and the Medal of Honor for gallantry in action at the Battle of Chancellorsville.

Mulholland was born in Lisburn, County Antrim, Ireland (modern-day Northern Ireland). Emigrating to Philadelphia with his parents while a boy, his youthful tastes inclined him to military affairs and he became active in the ranks of the militia. At the breaking out of the Civil War he was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the 116th Pennsylvania Infantry, which was attached to Meagher´s Irish Brigade. When the regiment´s size was reduced to a battalion, he accepted a reduction in rank to major.Returning to civil life after the war, he was appointed Chief of Police in Philadelphia in 1868. President Grover Cleveland appointed him United States Pension Agent, in which office he was continued by Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt. He was considered an authority on the science of penology, and also devoted much of his leisure time to art studies, and as a lecturer and writer on the Civil War and its records. Most famous paintings by him: views of Venice, seascapes, landscapes and battle works from American Civil War. (source: date banks artprice.com and artnet.com).

He compiled a history of the 116th Regiment, and another of those to whom Congress voted the Medal of Honor. In the Catholic affairs of Philadelphia, he was always active and a leader among the best known laymen.

Literature: online wikipedia; date base artnet.com; Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "St. Clair Augustine Mulholland". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company; "St. Clair Augustine Mulholland". Claim to Fame: Medal of Honor recipients. Find a Grave. 2008; Mulholland, St. Clair A., ​​The story of the 116th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers in the War of the Rebellion, New York: Fordham University Press, 1996.

Inscription: signed lower left.

Technique: oil on canvas. Original period gilt frame.

Measurements: unframed w 50 " x h 30 1/8 " (127 x 76,5 m); framed w 56 2/3 " x h 34 3/4 " (144 x 93,5 cm).

Condition: in very good condition.