May Matthews
Managing Director, Scotland
Lot 69
Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell RSA RSW(British, 1883-1937)Ben Cruachan across the Sound of Mull
15 May 2024, 14:00 BST
EdinburghSold for £79,140 inc. premium
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Leo Webster
Senior Specialist
Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell RSA RSW (British, 1883-1937)
Ben Cruachan across the Sound of Mull
signed 'F.C.B.Cadell' (lower right), inscribed and initialled 'Absorbent Ground - never varnish - F.C.B.C.' (verso)
oil on panel
38 x 45cm (14 15/16 x 17 11/16in).
signed 'F.C.B.Cadell' (lower right), inscribed and initialled 'Absorbent Ground - never varnish - F.C.B.C.' (verso)
oil on panel
38 x 45cm (14 15/16 x 17 11/16in).
Footnotes
Provenance
Private collection, UK.
Cadell first travelled to Iona in 1912 and from then he would visit almost every summer to paint its distinctive landscape and beaches. Despite the frequency of his travels in this region, views on Mull are a rarity when compared with those on Iona, which have become ubiquitous within the canon of Colourist painting. This perhaps being due to the fleeting nature of his travel through Mull in order to make his away to and from Iona.
In the present work, one gets the sense that Cadell happened upon this beautiful composition whilst walking to the coast, however all of the finest elements of his paintings on the west coast of Scotland come to fruition here. There is an immediacy and pace that one can sense in the painting - indicative of Cadell's desire to capture a fleeting moment en plein air - highlighted by the patchwork of strong angular brushstrokes built up with areas of fluid paint over the water and beaches. Perhaps most distinctive in the work is Cadell's ability to render the subtleties of changing light, most notably in the effect of the clouds moving across the landscape, and in particular Ben Cruachan in the distance.
This Mull view represents a rare example of the artist's west coast landscapes not painted on Iona and highlights the quality of an artist at the very peak of his powers.
