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Lot Essay
During the twenties Williams made regular forays to France and northern Italy, painting at Honfleur, Martigues, Cassis, the Italian Lakes and Venice. His major work on the lake of Como, destined for the Royal Academy in 1927, was painted at the little town of Menaggio which had been popular with artists since Turner’s visit in 1842. More recently the Australian painter, Tom Roberts, had worked there in 1913 and Henry La Thangue had painted on the lake shores around 1920.
The central motif of the present picture, one of the ‘covered wagon’ boats known as ‘Lucia’, crosses the lake. This ‘comballo’ or ‘gondola’, quite different from that in Venice, is sometimes fitted with a single square sail. It is seen in close-up in Morning, Locarno (Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool) of the previous year. At the time of its being photographed for RA Illustrated, the sail had not been added. Even in Williams’ day, these traditional craft were being replaced by motor boats and steam ferries which regularly plied between Menaggio, Varenna and Bellagio to the south, where the lake divides. From its landing stages a light railway would take travellers from Menaggio to Porlezza on Lake Lugano to the west and on to the main lines through the St Gothard Pass. Yet despite ease of access and popularity, the little town delivers a moment of calm as the sinking sun sheds its warm light on the distant peaks in the present work. On these occasions, in the fast fading light, the artist worked rapidly with a sketchbook and pastels, making aides-memoires that would help him realize the large impression of the lake. At this point in the day, as he mentions in his articles for The Artist (vol. IX, nos. 1-6, March-August 1935), detail fades and the large masses can be clearly seen. These were simple pieces of advice for the earnest amateur; style and ‘poetic feeling’ were left for others to judge (Simon, op. cit., 1984, p. 56).
KMc.
The central motif of the present picture, one of the ‘covered wagon’ boats known as ‘Lucia’, crosses the lake. This ‘comballo’ or ‘gondola’, quite different from that in Venice, is sometimes fitted with a single square sail. It is seen in close-up in Morning, Locarno (Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool) of the previous year. At the time of its being photographed for RA Illustrated, the sail had not been added. Even in Williams’ day, these traditional craft were being replaced by motor boats and steam ferries which regularly plied between Menaggio, Varenna and Bellagio to the south, where the lake divides. From its landing stages a light railway would take travellers from Menaggio to Porlezza on Lake Lugano to the west and on to the main lines through the St Gothard Pass. Yet despite ease of access and popularity, the little town delivers a moment of calm as the sinking sun sheds its warm light on the distant peaks in the present work. On these occasions, in the fast fading light, the artist worked rapidly with a sketchbook and pastels, making aides-memoires that would help him realize the large impression of the lake. At this point in the day, as he mentions in his articles for The Artist (vol. IX, nos. 1-6, March-August 1935), detail fades and the large masses can be clearly seen. These were simple pieces of advice for the earnest amateur; style and ‘poetic feeling’ were left for others to judge (Simon, op. cit., 1984, p. 56).
KMc.