Inside La Lanterna Detroit: An Interior Rendering in Watercolor

Walk into La Lanterna in downtown Detroit and your eye doesn’t know where to land first — the glow of the shiny red pizza oven, the rows of neatly set tables, or the industrial bones of the space itself. I was commissioned to paint a 16x20 interior watercolor portrait of this Italian restaurant inside the historic Albert Building in Capitol Park, originally designed by renowned local architect Albert Kahn. The illustration was a Christmas gift from the owner’s children — a tribute not just to the restaurant, but to the family behind it.

This perspective was a fun challenge: slightly angled, clean white walls, warm wood chairs, leather booths, hanging lights, and a glossy floor reflecting just enough light to keep things dimensional. There are a dozen tables, each set for two with red-and-white checkered napkins, glassware, and tiny salt and pepper shakers. The room itself is largely neutral, which made the bold red pizza oven and those little napkins pop even more. On the back bar, at the client’s request, I added a pipe, a pair of sunglasses, two glasses of wine, and a wine bottle — small but meaningful details representing the grandfather and father who built the family’s restaurant legacy.

And then there were the paintings on the wall — two black-and-white pieces I had to recreate within the painting itself. One depicts Venice, the other is Italy with the word “home.” Tiny paintings inside a larger one, layered into the story of the space. It took about a week to balance all the textures — brick, metal, leather, wood — and get the shadows right without losing the bright, airy feel of the room.

When the owner — affectionately known as “The Sauce Boss, Detroit” — spoke about the gift in a recent video (watch it below), he got choked up talking about how special this painting is that his kids gifted to him. That reaction says more than I ever could. This wasn’t just an interior portrait. It was a thank-you, a legacy piece, and a little slice of Detroit restaurant history captured in watercolor.

Learn how to commission a hand-painted watercolor portrait ➜