Born in Hartford, Connecticut, William Gedney Bunce served in the Civil War, 1st Connecticut Cavalry. After the war, he moved to New York City where he studied under William Hart. By 1867 he had moved abroad. He spent more than a decade studying in London, Paris and Rome.

While in Rome in 1871, Bunce’s first paintings were sent back to the United States for exhibition, but it was not until his 1879 return to New York City that he received critical acclaim. His paintings were unique in that he composed them with a palette knife rather than a paintbrush. In 1880 his evocative Venetian canal scenes were praised for their sense of color and design.

Until World War I, Bunce divided his time between Venice and the United States, but he was more associated with Venice. Over the years he became something of an institution there. Among his loyal promoters and patrons were the dealer Daniel Cottier, the architect Stanford White, and Queen Victoria of England who had ordered one of his Venetian landscapes.

Bunce kept a New York studio on Washington Square for many years but ultimately moved back to Hartford, where he built a new studio and continued to paint until 1916. Bunce died on November 5, 1916 when he was hit by a car while crossing the street – one of the first victims of an automobile accident in Hartford.

 

 Blue Hill Bay Gallery   11 Tenney Hill, Blue Hill, Maine 04614