Tuscan Landscape

Details

John Nash, R.A. (1893-1977)
Tuscan Landscape
signed and dated 'John Nash/1915' (lower left), inscribed 'by John Nash/Property of/Paul Nash/176/...Minories' (by Paul Nash on the reverse)
pencil, watercolour, gouache and coloured crayon on paper
14 1/8 x 14 7/8 in. (35.8 x 37.8 cm.)
Executed in 1915.

Provenance

Paul Nash, to whom given by the artist.
Mrs John Nash, after Paul Nash's death in 1946.
Victor Batte-Lay Trust, The Minories, Colchester; their sale, Christie's, London, 12 March 1993, lot 2.
with Spink, London, where purchased by the present owner.

Literature

Sir J. Rothenstein, John Nash, London, 1983, p. 37, illustrated.
A. Freer, John Nash 'The Delighted Eye', Aldershot, 1993, p. 50, illustrated.
R. Blythe, First Friends: Paul and Bunty, John and Christine, London, 1997, p. 49, illustrated.
A. Lambirth, John Nash: Artist & Countryman, Norwich, 2019, pp. 46-47, illustrated.

Exhibited

Chelmsford, Chelmsford & Essex Museum, John Nash, C.B.E., R.A. An exhibition of paintings and drawings, April - May 1971, no. 5, as 'Italian Landscape': this exhibition travelled to Worthing, Worthing Art Gallery, June - July 1971.
Colchester, The Minories, John Nash, R.A. 1893-1977: A Memorial Exhibition, January - February 1979, no. 8.
Colchester, The Minories, Twenty-Four Essex and Suffolk Artists 1900-1978, March - April 1979, no. 41.

Special Notice

Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent.

Brought to you by

Philip Harley

pharley@christies.com +44 207 389 2687

Lot Essay

The inspiration for this early masterpiece dates from the 1914 trip Nash made to Florence after the success of his joint exhibition with his brother Paul at the Dorien Leigh Gallery in London (November 1913). Although he managed to get to the Uffizi and admired its great collection of Old Masters, he contracted flu and was confined to bed for a week. He described the countryside in a letter as ‘one colossal piece of garden work, terrace above terrace with row upon row of olive trees, fig trees, pear trees, all short and pollarded…’ He painted three Italian landscapes in 1914 and a fourth, this one, in 1915. A superb piece of pictorial design, Nash typically uses trees to articulate space and unify the painting in an overall pattern. Clarity of drawing and controlled use of colour add to the image’s authenticity and appeal. Allen Freer wrote that this winter view ‘distils the very essence of Tuscany’.

A.L.

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