Beschreibung:

Artist: Sir John Lavery RA RHA RSA (1856-1941) Title: Nightfall, Tangier (1912) Signature: signed 'J Lavery' lower right and titled verso Medium: oil on canvas laid on board Size: 25 x 35½cm (9.8 x 14in) Framed Size: 43.5 x 53.75cm (17.1 x 21.2in) Provenance: Mr Kingman (?); Gorry Gallery, Dublin, c.1980s; to the present owner a#morebtn { color: #de1d01; } a#morebtn:hover { cursor: pointer;} For John Lavery still, cloudless evenings in the 'white city' of Tangier were magical. Some of the earliest, painted on hotel rooftops in the Kasbah show the sleeping city, while others, painted after 1904, reveal the landscapes to the west. When n... Read more For John Lavery still, cloudless evenings in the 'white city' of Tangier were magical. Some of the earliest, painted on hotel rooftops in the Kasbah show the sleeping city, while others, painted after 1904, reveal the landscapes to the west. When not visiting friends or attending evening receptions in the Legation, the artist would in these years, like his Moroccan neighbours, repair to the flat roof of Dar-el-Midfah, his house on Mount Washington. From his hilltop retreat Lavery could survey the surrounding slopes, gaze out to sea or concentrate on the dramatic skies that often swept the Straits of Gibraltar. This unusual open-air studio was even used for portrait sessions and figure subjects. The present view of the hilly hinterland to the west of the city is thus, one of a small series. At least four others are known, and all are painted at different times, from slightly different angles on 10 x 14 inch canvas-boards. As a contemporary photograph indicates, these fitted into the open lid of a portable paint-box that could be adjusted to support the picture while it was being worked. Of the group, the earliest date from c. 1911, and the final example appears to have been executed in c. 1920. Lavery's stay in Tangier in 1912 was particularly notable for two principal reasons. He, his wife, Hazel and step-daughter, Alice, arrived in December 1911 and remained until the following April. Firstly, their stay coincided with the French invasion of Morocco under Marshal Lyautay. Although life in the protectorate city remained as normal for other nationals, French influence was inevitably set to increase. Secondly, in the New Year, the Laverys were joined by the artist's daughter, Eileen, and her fiancé, the Liverpool solicitor, James Dickinson, who were married in March at the villa on Mount Washington - in what was to be the principal social event of the season for the international community. Despite the round of socializing connected with the wedding, Lavery was busy, as always, and a number of important seascapes and other works were painted during these months. He had for instance conceived In Morocco (National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne), a large family portrait to be completed in London as a complement to The Artist's Studio, 1910-13 (National Gallery of Ireland). However it was in small sketches such as Nightfall. Tangier, that he relaxed. Of the group, the present example is the simplest and most direct. A finely gradated sky takes the eye through grey-blues and pale pinks to a hilltop on which neighbouring houses glow in the evening sun. Before them, paths zig-zag down the scrubby slope and trees are swiftly dotted into place. One senses pure pleasure, and expects, as with other examples of this type, that the canvas-board might, if the moment arose, become a souvenir - a present to a friend. Of the first type, Tangier from the Continental Hotel, 1891 (Private Collection) is a salient example, while the later type, painted from Lavery's housetop, are typified by Evening, Tangier, c.1907 (Birmingham Museums); for further reference see Kenneth McConkey, John Lavery A Painter and his World, 2010 (Atelier Books), pp. 54-6, 95-6. The precise date of Lavery's acquisition of this prop