Frederic, Lord Leighton, 'Houses in Venice', perhaps 1867

A warm light casts long shadows upon the roof of a white-walled building dominating the lower half of this evocative oil sketch. The upper half of the composition is occupied by a series of taller buildings of various dimensions, punctuated by small windows and peppered with chimneys. The latter stand silhouetted against a deep blue sky, tinged with greys and pinks, suggesting a slight haze. A lone, majestic cypress tree rises up from a courtyard below, towering above a number of other shrubs whose tops are only just visible. Only the tree’s northernmost tip reaches the sun, while the rest falls into deep shadow.

We are in Venice, probably at the end of a hot summer’s day. Some of the shutters are closed, and the scene is devoid of all human presence, giving the scene an atmospheric quietude. Leighton employed a gentle palette of soft tones such as rose pinks, olive greens and warm browns, evoking the muted colours that characterise Venice’s stuccoed facades and red-tiled roofs. Although no canals are visible, the presence of water is perhaps intimated by the vivid white reflections on the wall of the lower building, captured by short strokes of white paint.

Leighton was fascinated by the structure of buildings and the interplay of light and shadow upon their forms.

Leighton seems to have painted this scene from an open window, since a vertical band of paint to the right suggests a frame. The precise area of the city has not been established, but the lower building in the foreground could be a monastic structure such as a dormitory or a refectory, and the garden could, therefore, belong to a cloister. There appears to be another garden behind the lower building, as a few treetops are emerging in the middle ground.

The view may have been made during a stop in the city in 1867, when Leighton was travelling home from Asia Minor. and spent much time sketching its buildings and monuments. Some studies were later incorporated into finished oil paintings, while others were created as independent works. Houses in Venice seems to be a fine example of the latter.