Portrait of Mrs. Daniel Sargent Curtis

The aura of Venice incited the attentions of countless artists and writers in the 19th century, including American expatriate painter John Singer Sargent. When in Venice, Sargent frequented the Palazzo Barbaro on the Grand Canal, an opulent palace owned by his distant relation Daniel Curtis and Daniel’s wife, Ariana. The Curtis home became a gathering place for Robert Browning, Henry James, Isabella Stewart Gardner, Edith Wharton, and other cultural luminaries in the 1880s.