Vintage Italian Oil Painting of a Venetian Canal in Gilt Frame, Signed Vieli

A small, atmospheric Venetian backwater by the Italian painter Vieli, signed in the lower right corner and titled Canale on the label behind. An old brick bridge arches over still green water, a little red boat waits beneath it, and in the foreground a turquoise boat sits moored beside a tall timber boathouse with a rust orange roof. Beyond the bridge, terracotta rooftops and a pale campanile fade into a soft, misty sky. The paint is laid on thickly with a palette knife and stiff brush, so the light catches on every ridge of the water and the weathered planks.

Vieli worked from Ferrara, and the back of the board still carries its original paperwork. A Ferrario artists' supplies label records the title, the artist's name and his address in Ferrara, with the price given by his listing in an Italian artists' directory. Beside it is a Certificato di Autenticità, signed by both the gallery's art adviser and Vieli himself. Paintings sold with this paperwork were popular with visitors to Italy in the 1970s and 80s, and it is lovely to have the full story still attached.

Painted in oil on canvas board, the painting itself measures 18 x 24 cm, rising to 40 x 34 cm in its frame. The frame is a handsome reeded gilt moulding with a white painted slip and a narrow gilt inner edge, and the deep surround gives a small picture real presence on the wall. There are light rubs to the gilt and the corner joint of the slip has opened very slightly at the lower right. It is strung and ready to hang.

The cool blues, greens and terracottas sit beautifully with warm wood, rattan and pale linen. Try it on a bedside wall, in a cluster above a console table with other small landscapes, or propped on a shelf with a few books on Italy and a bunch of dried grasses, as in our photographs. It is also a far cheaper way to bring Venice home than a gondola ride, and it won't need booking in advance.