CHARLES HODGE MACKIE R.S.A., R.S.W., P.S.S.A. (SCOTTISH 1862-1920)
CA' D'ORO, VENICE
£6,875
Scottish Paintings & Sculpture
Auction: Evening Sale: 09 December 2021 | From 18:00
Description
Signed, inscribed with title verso, oil on panel
Dimensions
73cm x 61cm (28.75in x 24in)
Footnote
Note: A painting with this title was exhibited at the R.S.A. 1915, no.102
The work of Charles Hodge Mackie was recently celebrated in a major exhibition at the City Art Centre, Edinburgh. It revealed the importance of Venice to him as a rich source of subject matter, as seen in Ca d'Oro, Venice. Curator Dr. Helen Scott wrote that his time in the city 'resulted in a compelling group of oil paintings, watercolours and woodcuts, which capture the city at its most atmospheric.'
This can be seen in the present work. A bridge, glimpses of gondolas and boats with unfurled sails dominate the foreground and right-hand side of the composition. They give way to a delicately realised expanse of the Grand Canal, in which Mackie has skilfully captured the effect of light and reflections on its surface. In the background the finely-wrought facade of the magnificent titular palace is seen, under a mixture of shadow and sunshine.
It is possible that Ca d'Oro, Venice is the untraced painting mentioned in Pat Clark's 2016 monograph about Mackie. She wrote 'It is disappointing to say that Mackie's painting of one of the most magnificent buildings in Venice, shown at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1915, has not been traced. The subject was the Ca' d'Oro or House of Gold....He exhibited the painting again at the Royal Glasgow Institute in 1916, asking a mere £63, but there is no record of sale. it was also shown at the Royal Academy in London the next year. It must have found an appreciative buyer since it was loaned to the 1921 Memorial Exhibition by 'Sir P. Jeffrey Mackie Barr'...Perhaps it will surface again.' (Pat Clark, People, Places and Piazzas: The Life and Art of Charles H. Mackie, Bristol 2016, p. 116).