Rubens Santoro was born in Italy in 1859 and began his apprenticeship with his two brothers in his father's studio. Santoro continued his studies at the L'Instituto di Belle Arti in Naples under Domenico Morelli, but left after one year, finding formal study stifling. He was influenced by the great Mariano Fortuny and Santoro's earlier works reflect similar electric brush-strokes and naturalistic details.

Santoro devoted much of his career to painting picturesque, almost photographic Venetian canal scenes. The crisp colours, sparkling light, and serene compositions make Santoro's canal scenes some of the most popular in its genre.

After 1880 however, Santoro began to paint colour-saturated scenes depicting North Africa. Like...