Chioggia

Chioggia sits at the southern end of the Venetian lagoon, a fishing town of narrow houses and open quays about 25 kilometres from Venice. Tito signed this small canvas in the lower left corner with his name and the year 98, for 1898. It is a windy day on the waterfront. A woman holds her white shawl up with both arms as it fills like a sail, another carries a child on her hip, a toddler sits naked on the paving, and in front a girl in a spotted skirt bends forward, a small pot swinging from a wire in her hand. The sea opens up on one side, the tall pale house fronts close in on the other. In 1900 the French state bought the painting from a man named Charles Trimbal for the Musée du Luxembourg.