Francis Smith, 1881-1961

Place à Lisbonne epitomises Francis Smith’s passionate devotion to his homeland that occupied so much of his oeuvre. The familiar, sensitive palette and the delicacy of the execution place this painting at the centre of the artist’s achievements. Set in a small square in Lisbon, light floods the composition, bringing the geometric architecture of the townscape into sharp focus whilst offsetting it with the dappled, shadowy foreground. As a result, the most striking element of the painting is its daring attempt to balance a series of opposing forces: the hard angularity of the buildings with the soft and vibrant trees; the broad, confident planes of colour with the small and delicate figures; the warm pinks with the cool pastel blues and the high vantage point against a soaring hillside. Stabilising the composition at the centre is the monument around which the rest of the image unfurls; an anchor in the eye of a maelstrom of opposing and vertiginous forces. These tensions reveal the paradox behind Smith’s work: an image that at first glance appears so serene and peaceful is in fact a complex and finely balanced work of great delicacy and sureness of touch. And yet, for all its complexity, this work remains one of Smith’s most beautiful and compelling works.