The Thousand and One Nights

Vittorio Zecchin was born in 1878 in Murano, Venice, famous for glass production; his father worked in a glass factory. Although he spent his childhood and youth in Murano surrounded by the glassworks, he had no interest in the art of glass and instead studied painting at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice. School disappointed him and he left it and art in general until 1908, when he became moved by a new artistic movement, the Viennese Secession. Their work was on display between 1908 and 1920 at the Museum of Modern Art in Ca‘ Pesaro in Venice. Fascinated by the mystical and symbolist painting of the time, as well as the Art Nouveau movement, he even travelled to Vienna around 1910 to get to know the artists and their work in situ. There he met Gustav Klimt, who was to have a lasting influence on his creative work.

His high point as a painter came in 1914, when he completed The Thousand and One Nights, a 30 meter-long painting, comprising 12 individual works depicting the procession of Aladdin and his entourage, as he goes to ask the Sultan for his daughter’s hand. The work was commissioned by the Hotel Terminus in Venice, which intended the painting for the dining room.

The version we present today, is a part of this series. The Museum in Ca' Pesaro Palace in Venice today owns 6 of the 12 paintings, the rest remain in private hands.

P.S. If you plan to visit Venice soon, check our artsy guide to the best Venetian museums. Ca' Pesaro is among them.  <3

P.P.S. If you would like to own something beautiful and Art Nouveau, please check our DailyArt Prints with Gustav Klimt's masterpiece in the DailyArt Shop.  :)