Charles Cundall: Dusk, Anticoli Corrado, 1921

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Presentation: Framed
Oil on canvas, 16Q X 11 ins. (42 X 28 cms.)
Provenance: the artist's wife, Jaqueline Pieterson

Anticoli Corrado, a small village south of Rome, was famed for the beauty of its inhabitants and had, since the nineteenth century, been popular with Italian painters. Following in the footsteps of Colin Gill the first Rome Scholar, Winifred Knights and Job Nixon spent the Summer months of their scholarship in Anticoli. Knights refers to Cundall in a letter written from the village, dated 28th May 1921: 'Job's friend (Cundall, 14c Whitehead's Grove, Chelsea) is arriving here in the middle of June. Job says he would bring out my dresses. . .'

Knights' first impression of Anticoli conjures up a similar image to Cundall's painting: 'Anticoli is a glorious place and a little terrifying, so wild and rugged with huge volcanic mountains all round. I have never imagined a more beautiful place. It hardly seems real. We saw Anticoli just springing up out of the precipice like a bundle of toadstools, all grey houses with green moss covered roofs' (letter to her mother, XIII, Jan 22 1921).

Cundall's remarkable dusk-time view is painted from the area below the village where artists rented their studios - Knights described her studio as 'a joint affair, Nixon, Cundall's (a college man), Miss Southby's and mine is overhung in one place by a gigantic rock which hangs by a hair.' The house of Rosa Ceccarelli, where Knights lodged, with its distinctive loggia, is clearly visible in the centre of the composition.

We are grateful to Alistair Hicks for his assistance.

Charles Cundall 1890-1971

Painter, potter and stained glass artist, born in Stratford, Lancashire. After working as a designer for Pilkington's Pottery Company under Gordon Forsyth, Cundall studied at Manchester School of Art, obtaining a scholarship to the Royal College of Art, 1912. After World War I army service he returned to the Royal College in 1918, then from 1919 to 1920 attended the Slade, and furthered his studies in Paris. Cundall traveled widely in several continents and became noted for his panoramic pictures, such as Bank Holiday Brighton, in the Tate Gallery (accession no. NO4700). He was a member of NEAC, RP, RWS and other bodies and was a prolific RA exhibitor. He had first solo show at Colnaghi 1927. He was an Official War Artist in World War II, during which time he was sent to Quebec (1944). In the same year he was elected RA. His wife was the artist Jacqueline Pietersen.

His technical facility - especially when working on large panoramic canvases - was remarkable. His pictures are rich with texture, light and movement. He was equally at ease with aerial views, landscapes, seascapes and cityscapes, and was a master of crowd scenes. His work as an Official War Artist has never received the attention it merits.