Francis Newton Souza (1924 - 2002)

Good overall condition. Colors fairly accurate in catalogue illustration.
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The current early work forms part of an important group of still life paintings Souza executed in the mid-1950s built around a powerfully ecclesiastical theme (see Still Life, 1958, Sotheby's New York, March 22, 2007, lot 16). Here, the religious vessels of the Eucharist—including the chalice, patens, ciborium and candelabrum—are set upon the altar atop a checkerboard tapestry. The checkerboard pattern is a recurring motif for Souza, reflecting the ecclesiastical vestments worn by religious figures which appear in his works from a similar period.

As Edwin Mullins has noted, the strong black outlines that enclose deep vibrant colors are reminiscent of Georges Rouault; like Rouault, they are influences by the startling luminosity of stained glass, which in this instance lends to the covertly religious sentiment of the painting.

Souza was born and raised in the Portuguese Catholic colony of Goa. The impact that such an upbringing had upon the artist and the subject matter of his early paintings cannot be overstated. In the artist's familiar words: "The Roman Catholic Church had a tremendous influence over me, not in its dogmas, but in its grand architecture and the splendor of its services: the priest, dressed richly in embroidered vestments, each of his garments from the biretta to the chasuble symbolizing the accoutrements of Christ's passion; these wooden saints painted with gold and bright colors, staring vacantly from their niches; the smell of the incense; and the enormous crucifix with the impaled image of man supposed to be the Son of God, scourged and dripping, with matted hair tangled in plaited thorns. I would kneel and pray for hours. When the sacristan came around with the collection plate, I would drop on it, with great satisfaction, the large copper coin given me by my grandmother. I felt I had paid an installment for the salvation of my soul," (Souza, Words and Lines, London, 1959, p. 10).