In May 1896, Sickert returned to Venice and took as his studio a flat at 940 Calle dei Frati, keeping it for all his subsequent visits. A few minutes’ walk to the Accademia and Grand Canal, just north of the Zattere, Sickert visited and painted the famous buildings and sites of Venice, returning to the same spot on numerous occasions to repeat the process at different times of the day.

Indeed, repetition was a key feature of Sickert’s work in general but notably in his views of Venice and Dieppe. In Venice, he painted version after version of the façade and piazza at San Marco, the Santa Maria della Salute, the Rialto Bridge and the Scuola di San Marco. His dedication to revisiting the same locations echoes the architectural series of works produced by the Impressionists and, in particular bear comparison with Monet’s series of paintings of Rouen Cathedral.

However, unlike the Impressionists, he was not overly interested in recording the passing of time and light on his subject matter but rather “to disentangle from nature the illumination that brings out most clearly the character of each scene.” (W. Sickert, French Pictures, Knoedler’s Gallery, Burlington Magazine, July 1923, pp.39-40). Consequently, Sickert’s paintings were frequently executed in his studio from drawings and small oil sketches. He showed scant interest in the effect of changing atmospheric conditions. Instead, he used this repetition to explore variations in colour and tone, experimenting with the handling of paint and the different emotional responses that these variations provoked.

The most important of these were a small number of pictures depicting Venice at nightfall. These are reminiscent of the works of his earlier teacher, James McNeill Whistler, who famously painted London and Venice at night, referring to them as Nocturnes or Symphonies. Whistler used musical terms in the title in order to appeal directly to the viewer’s senses without the need for narrative or subject. This synthesis of individual artistic disciplines appealed to a deeper, more visceral emotion than mere aesthetics. Although Sickert does not use the same language as his master the intent is very similar.

As light fades and the shadows deepen, all petty and exacting details vanish, everything trivial disappears, and I see things as they are in great strong masses: the buttons are lost, but the sitter remains; the sitter is lost, but the shadow remains; the shadow is lost, but the picture remains. And that, night cannot efface from the painter’s imagination.” - James Abbott Mcneill Whistler

In Lot 92, Sickert depicts the unmistakable site of the Rialto Bridge from the Grand Canal, however he is not exploring Canalettos’s topographical splendour or indeed Monet’s fleeting light dancing on the water and reflecting on the Palazzos; he is appealing directly to the viewer’s senses. Through the carefully chosen colours and tones, he creates a deep emotional response that transcends the obvious beauty of the subject and in turn impels the viewer to look beyond the subject and reflect on his own personal reaction to the painting. It is not Sickert recording his experience before the subject, but rather it is the experience of standing before the painting itself and it is this that makes this work as contemporary today as it was when it was painted over 100 years ago in “the loveliest city in the world”.

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Auction Details

Thursday 11 July, 10.30am BST
Donnington Priory, Newbury, Berkshire RG14 2JE

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