Walter Sickert, The Rialto, courtesy of Hazlitt Holland Hibbert
I feel at home, as usual, in Dulwich Picture Gallery, in this late, warm April morning.
And it is not only because here are permanently displayed some Italian masterpieces, but also because Italy seems to be a recurrent thread within many of its exhibitions at the moment.
So it is, that in these rooms, I comfortably pass from the beautiful and rich display of Sickert in Venice, to the magnificent reunion of the Veronese’s Petrobelli Altarpiece. And I feel as I have never left my country.
In Sickert’s Venice I recognize the splendour, the mystery and the fascination that the city offers to her viewers and that used to offer me for five years, while I was studying there at University.
Anna in Venice in front of the Grand Canal
Venice is not only a far-distant dream, an untouchable apparition or a highly defined lacey landscape, as it appears in some well known paintings. It is also a vibrant flesh-deep contrast of light and shadow, mysterious concretions of marbles, bricks, stones, facing their images reflected in dense, smelly water. This is the sentiment that seems to come from many of Sickert’s views of the city.
In Rialto Bridge I can happily feel on my skin the glory of the sun flooding its light, possibly at sunset, over the Gran Canal beyond the Bridge and spreading over the façade of the houses.
In Palazzo dei Camerlenghi, the building seems to move in a strange contorsion, mysterious and spectral in its dark windows.
Sickert came back to Venice several times. Whether he was escaping family problems or trying to find new inspiration for his work, is not really important. He was fascinated by its architecture as well as by its people, women and workers. One section of the exhibition is just devoted to his portraits and figures.
It’s easy for me to experience a sense of deep empathy, and with a subtle smile, in front of the Portrait of Sig. De’ Rossi.
Walter Sickert, Two Women on a Sofa - le Tose, Tate
He was the owner of the restaurant where Sickert used to eat and provided him with many of his models. We can imagine a pretty Italian atmosphere of friendship and companionship between the two, possibly drinking together at the end of the day, when all the clients are gone and the place is about to be closed. I would have liked to sit there and listen to their chatting. “Al simpaticissimo e geniale Sig. De Rossi” Sickert wrote on the canvas. “Genial”. The word, in this context, reminds us of a playful tone, of witty jokes and great fun.
Again, an Italian face, to make me feel at home!
Sickert In Venice runs until 31 May
