Description
Signed and dated '11, oil on canvas
Dimensions
117cm x 90cm (46in x 35.5in)
Footnote
Provenance:Sir Patrick Ford
Jonathan Clark Ltd, London,
Private Collection
Exhibited:Royal Scottish Academy, Festival Exhibition, Peploe, Cadell, Hunter, 1949
Literature:Tom Hewlett, Cadell: A Scottish Colourist, 1988, p.29, pl.17
In 1629, a terrible epidemic cast its pall over the city of Venice. Lasting for over sixteen months, the Black Death would devastate the population of La Serenissima, carrying away 46,490 of its citizens, including the republic’s Doge. In such dark times, the Venetian Senate turned to heaven for aid, hoping that patronage would succeed where prayer had failed, and voted to erect a basilica to Santa Maria della Salute, the Madonna of Health. Rising like a crown from the turquoise waters of the Grand Canal, a statue of its patron saint serenely surveying the city from her vantage point atop the dome’s apex, the pristine white basilica has always been an emblem of hope to Venetians, a talisman against the shadows of death.
Each year on November 21st the faithful proceed from the Piazza San Marco to the Salute by means of a temporarily-erected bridge of boats that span the Grand Canal, linking the two spiritual centres of the city. Crowds press through narrow Venetian calli, pilgrims hoping to be cured of ailments alongside tourists eagerly experiencing the heightened atmosphere of a major religious and civic spectacle. The contrast between the frenzy of the Festa della Salute and the quiet scene of devotion in the midst of architectural splendour masterfully captured by Cadell in this painting could not be more striking.
Since its construction under the Baroque architect Baldessare Longhena in 1631, the Salute has served as a site of religious and artistic pilgrimage in equal measures, inspiring artists from Canaletto to Turner and Cadell’s near contemporary, John Singer Sargent. While Sargent depicted the exterior of the church (often perching in a gondola to do so), Cadell has chosen to capture the effect of light and shade in the interior, accepting the challenge of depicting its remarkable octagonal centralised plan, unique in Venetian architecture of its time. Longhena rooted his bold architectural vision in Venetian tradition through his use of Istrian stone (recalling the works of Palladio and Mauro Codussi) and whitewashed stucco to create bright, even lighting in its interior. In his depiction of the nave of the church seen from one of its many side-chapels, the young Cadell has clearly absorbed the lessons of the Impressionists, using a thick and fluid impasto brushwork in which orange merges with red, blue and lilac. In this painting, white stone is never simply white, but rather reflects the gold surface of altars, rich hues of carved wood, and the red velvet curtains which veil the shimmering light of the lagoon pouring through the basilica’s windows.
Cadell draws all the more attention to the potency of light in the basilica’s interior through his depiction of the shade cast by its dramatic piers. The shadows of the painting’s foreground, shrouding the features of the lady lost in prayer, blend harmoniously into the middleground, while the patterns in the marble floor emerge from darkness at its lower edge
marble floor emerge from darkness at its lower edge before losing themselves again in the dazzling light at the basilica’s centre. The presence of the seated figure adds an element of intimacy to a painting which, painted on an unusually large scale for the artist at this time, otherwise alludes to the magnificent scale of the Salute itself, its monumental quality reinforced by the strong vertical rhythm of its Composite columns, and the diminutive figure in fashionable dress strolling under its soaring arches.
Cadell’s trip to Venice - which proved to be an important catalyst in his development as a Colourist, would have been beyond the means of the artist (who had a dandy’s taste but unfortunately not the private income to match) were it not for the financial assistance of his patron, Patrick Ford. Ford funded his visit to the city in 1910, in return choosing six of the best paintings to emerge from the trip, including this work alongside two other depictions of Santa Maria della Salute, whose beauty and significance in the history and landscape of the city clearly impressed the collector.