Via del Corso
Original oil painting by Matthew Holden Bates.
Via del Corso - oil on canvas by Matthew Holden Bates.
Florence, Italy.
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About This Painting
This painting depicts Via del Corso in Florence, one of the narrow historic streets that carries the life of the city between its larger piazzas and monuments. The vertical format emphasizes the compression of the street, the height of the buildings, and the way light moves through Florence in fragments.
Rather than presenting Florence as a grand postcard view, Via del Corso focuses on the intimate rhythm of the city: storefronts, pedestrians, shadows, stone, windows, and the daily movement of people through a street shaped by centuries of use.
Like many of my cityscape paintings, this work began with direct observation and photography, then developed slowly in the studio through drawing, composition, and layers of oil paint. The painting explores the ordinary beauty of Florence, where even a passing street scene can become architectural, theatrical, and deeply human.