25 by 30in. (63.5 by 76.2cm)

Title: MOONLIGHT - THE BRIDGE, 1912
Note: During his sojourns in Tangier between 1903 and 1914, Lavery painted many ‘nocturnes’. For the most part these depict the bay and the flat slab-like architecture of the old walled city. Overlooking the sea at night, noting subtle transitions of grey and blue, he was adopting the vocabulary of Whistler, an artist he greatly respected. He was also excited by the odd ways in which ‘the white city’ came to life in the cool of the evening as Arabs repaired to the rooftops to dance, play the gimbri, or gaze at the stars. As a landscape nocturne, the present canvas is unusual. Although he painted in the hills around the city, and on the roads to Fez and Tetuan, Lavery seldom ventured forth into these areas at night. ‘Protected’ by the Great Powers, on account of its strategic importance, the city was surrounded by brigands and rebel groups who reaped rich rewards from kidnapping prominent western visitors. The painter’s friend Walter Harris, The Times correspondent, was one of these luckless foreigners. Lavery records at least one hair-raising encounter of this type, yet despite the risks, he was attracted to the present scene. In the reduced light, the little river, possibly the Oueb Souami, snakes across the picture, forming an indigo pool to the side of the bridge, and balancing the dark shapes of the trees on the right. The inky hillsides and warm grey of the sky are combined to create the eerie sense of moonlight picking out the tiny figures on the bridge and the houses in the distance. A single star twinkles in the sky and all is still. The impression was sufficiently haunting for Lavery to wish to recall the painting for his major retrospective exhibition at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1914. Prof. Kenneth McConkey

oil on canvas

signed lower right