Cap d'Ail, 1921. A woman reads on a terrace. The Mediterranean is doing everything it can to distract her.
The Terrace, Cap d'Ail was painted at the Eden-Grand Hotel on the Côte d'Azur — a place Lavery returned to in the years after the war, drawn by the light and the particular quality of stillness the south of France could offer. A woman sits absorbed in her book, surrounded by the impossible blues of the Riviera, the light warm on her shoulders. She is completely content. The painting lets you stand beside her.
It hangs in the Ulster Museum. It is one of his most quietly perfect works.
Sir John Lavery (1856–1941) was born in Belfast, trained in Glasgow and Paris, and became one of the most celebrated painters of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His work is held in the National Gallery of Ireland, the Ulster Museum, the Tate, and major collections worldwide.
Archival giclée print on 250gsm fine-art matte paper. Printed to order. Free worldwide shipping.
