Still Life with Glass, Bottle and Egg is the perfect expression of the elegant still-life paintings for which Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell is justly celebrated. The objects themselves are deceptively simple – prosaic even. However, their very neutrality makes them all the more susceptible to the sophistication and wit of Cadell’s vision, as well as his masterful handling of a brush. The blue-green square-sided bottle, for example, presents the opportunity for both reflection and refraction – the former a favourite Cadell motif developed in his elegant mantelpiece works of 1915 often titled simply Reflections (an example sold in these rooms The Colourists: Pictures From the Harrison Collection, 12 June 2018). The bottle itself, with its distinctive square sides and sash-like label, must have once contained Johnnie Walker whisky, thus lending the large tumbler next to it a rather louche purpose, a hint of Scots Bohemianism in contrast to the simple artisanal rations of a single egg, a cucumber and some apples. Indeed, Cadell himself enjoyed a drink and in one of his last letters to Harrison, maintaining his indomitable sense of humour, remarked:
You kindly said you thought of sending me some whisky. But I didn't suppose I was allowed it. As a matter of fact it is the only intoxicant I am allowed, so a bottle would be very welcome to drink your health in
Both the apples and cucumber are deliberately highly coloured – and work very self-consciously as purely formal contrasts. These two high-key elements stop the painting from fading out through its own elegance, giving it a real presence. The apples also anchor the painting in the lower left – a beloved technique of the Colourists, where the artist provides a jumping-off point for the eye. This may be a ‘simple’ still life, but Cadell gives it all the subtle feeling of his famed images of unnamed society ladies, enjoying the calme, luxe et volupté of his well-appointed studio – paintings such as the White Room, also from the Harrison collection (sold in these rooms 12 June 2018). There is something in Cadell’s brushwork that evokes this cool atmosphere, but crucially, as with all his best works it is more about how this brushwork is in perfect balance with both colour (here the grey-lavender, loosely dry-brushed in the background) and the all-important presence of white, which the artist uses as both a structural touchstone and a unifier of mood.
Still Life with Glass, Bottle and Egg once hung in the dining room at Harrison's home Croft House, an arrangement that would have amused Cadell who was well known for his humour and wit.