Sir John Lavery, R.A., R.S.A., R.H.A.

Spink, London, no. K2/3855

This painting is on a stable artist's board and would benefit from a light clean; no apparent issues under UV
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Dressed in tropical kit, and wearing a topee, John Lavery would ascend to the flat rooftop of his villa at Mount Washington, Tangier where he commanded a 360 degree view of the surrounding hills. Here, armed with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of 10 by 14 inch canvas-boards he would sketch the ever-changing sky. The present example is one such study.

The wooded "mount" to the south west of the city was so-named by the first American consul to Morocco, James Simpson, before the establishment of the US Legation in 1821, and in later years, it became the chosen spot for European expatriates to construct secluded villas. Acquired in 1903 and retained for twenty years, Lavery’s studio (known as Dar-el Midfah, "the House of the Cannon") remains to this day, with its ancient rusting cannon as a garden feature. Looking in one direction was the Tangier Kasbah and in the other, Cap Spartel.

Some of these little landscapes, painted from circa 1903 onward are difficult to date, while others, including Moonrise, Tangier, 1920 (sold Sotheby’s, London May 18, 2000, lot 108), can be placed precisely. On the basis of the signature and the spontaneous handling of the sky, it is likely that the present example dates from around ten years earlier. It is possible that Lavery’s original inscription is obscured by the prominent Spink label on the reverse. 

This catalogue entry was written by Professor Kenneth McConkey.