“Whatever you do, don’t paint Venice. It’s such a cliché.”

This was said to me years ago by a London gallery owner, and for a long time I followed his advice. After all, isn’t Venice the most photographed, painted and selfie-sticked city in the world?

I was acutely aware that tackling a series of Venice paintings came with dangers, quite apart from cliché, or an accusation of unoriginality. And do I really dare follow in the footsteps of some of the greatest watercolourists of the past? (Turner, of course, but also the wonderful en plein air works of Sargent and Ruskin, to name just three.)

But how can I, as a lover of beautiful architecture, ignore Venice? There are indeed thousands of clichéd images of the same view (or artist style), but it gradually dawned on me that there is always a fresh way to interpret it.

I wanted to get under the skin of Venice, or as I have termed it, behind the mask. I like to get up really early there – 5am – to watch the great city wake up. In those dawning hours, the streets are deserted save for street cleaners, and photographers who are all patiently waiting to take exactly the same shot.

What first took my breath away was how the rising sun began to light that great edifice, the most beautiful secular Gothic building in the world, the Doge’s Palace. I have painted it several times and will probably paint it several times more.

It was also in the early hours when I discovered what beauty there is in the canal reflections, before they get disturbed by gondolas. And I also loved to discover the backstreet city, away from the sea of tourists that floods Venice between St Mark’s Square and the Rialto.

Back in my studio I sought to show the buildings of Venice in the way it had felt to me in those early hours when I had those glorious buildings to myself, and with the morning light dancing its magic on the walls and water in the world’s most beautiful city.

We are living in an angry and uncertain world, and often a very frightening one. It is also a crowded world where, though there are wonderful exceptions, we endure much ugliness in art, in architecture, in urban planning, and in the relentless industrialisation of our rural landscape and seascape.

In a time of great change these buildings provide constancy for the soul and sanctuaries for the eyes. I paint them because they are beautiful.

Gerard Stamp, Summer 2026

Born in 1955, Gerard Stamp went to school under the shadow of Norwich Cathedral, where he developed a passion for drawing and painting architecture, encouraged by an inspirational teacher and the example of Norwich School master John Sell Cotman.

After art college he followed a multi-award-winning career as an art director in London’s design and advertising industry (“I wanted to eat as well as paint”, he says) always with the intention of one day painting full time.

That day came in 2002 when he returned full time to Norfolk to focus on painting.

In 2010 his life came full circle. At Norwich Cathedral he staged the inaugural exhibition for the Royal opening of the ‘Hostry’, a new Exhibition and Visitor Centre and one of the largest Cathedral developments since the rebuilding of Coventry. Gerard was delighted to be asked to present Her Majesty the Queen with a painting to celebrate the occasion.

His exquisite and monumental pictures are preoccupied with atmosphere as they evoke a haunting sense of place and of historic buildings. Above all he is fascinated by the play of light and shadow, and the impact on mood and composition of time present and time passing.

While also working in oil when he wishes, and producing panoramic pictures in charcoal, he most likes the intimacy of watercolour – pushing hard on its capabilities in an endless quest for immaculate images.

Stamp has held solo exhibitions in London and in a string of English cathedrals. His work is in private collections around the world and in public collections including Norwich Castle Art Gallery and the Royal Collection.

Jonathan Cooper

In support of the Venice in Peril Fund

GERARD STAMPbehind the mask - VisionS of Venice

GERARD STAMP

behind the mask - VisionS of Venice