Celia Montague 'A Light in the Heart'

CELIA MONTAGUE

Not a single gondola. Instead, authentic Venice: boat

The water is a miracle of brushwork that gives us

builders' yards; an ocean-going liner like a dark wedge

the movement of the swell. It is, if you look closely,

of wedding cake; pools of water on the pavement;

created by the slightly raised edge of the oil paint in

buildings tightly shoulder to shoulder with narrow

four or five places. Not much. Just enough. Perfect.

passageways; a length of Venetian pipe halfway down a building like a necktie; Garibaldi’s green bronze at the end of a vista; those tipsy vaporetto stops; San Salute, her outline subdued by fog, self-effacing, wan as a watermark, composed around the chord of mist.

The view of Torcello from Burano is another bravura passage of water – this time the record of water in the wake of, say, a motoscafo or a vaporetto that has passed. It is the aftermath, the fading turbulence, a flourish of sea. The uncovered raw canvas is foam.

Watermark: the title of Brodsky’s love letter to Venice.

A darker green slick captures the curve of swell.

He said that Venice is ‘this city of water’. Everything that Celia Montague paints is touched with modest brilliance – but especially her treatment of water.

There are eight paintings here of Salute and Santa Maria del Rosario – a suite of pictures sharing a skyline, but each one a unique record of light and mood. There are two night pieces, both excellent.

My favourite has an infinitesimally thin line of lit buildings like a broken necklace, crumbs of light like crushed grissini. Above, a sombre lapis sky; below, a

Then there is the apparently solid stillness of canal water, opaque and semi-gelatinous. Or water dark with algae and weeds. Or the grey beige of water, mixing horizontals of pallor and darker verticals of rusty reflections. All expert exact effects contriving to look accidental and spontaneous. I haven’t been to my house in Venice for two years because of lockdown.

These paintings brought it all back.

dark lapis width of water. The night sky on the right is slightly lighter because of the ambient light.

Craig Raine

front cover (detail)

back cover

N o c t u r n e , Ve n i c e

C a n a l T u r n , Fo r t u n y G a r d e n s

Oil on gessoed wooden panel 30 × 40 cm

Oil on canvas 40 × 50 cm

£1,850

£2,500

CRICKET FINE ART LONDON requests the pleasure of your company at the

PRIVATE VIEW of

CELIA MONTAGUE

A Light in the Heart at 2 Park Walk, London SW 10 0 AD

Tuesday 10th May 2022 6 – 8pm

Exhibition dates: 11 th - 27 th May 2022 Paintings are for sale on receipt of this catalogue The entire exhibition can be viewed online at www.cricketfineart.co.uk

A s F r o m A f a r , Ve n i c e Oil on canvas 40 × 50 cm £2,500

2

3

Leafy Sant'Elena Oil on canvas 50 × 40 cm £2,500

4

Closing Time, Campo Santa Margherita Oil on canvas 35 × 45 cm £1,950 5

Garden of the Chiesa di Sant'Eufemia Oil on canvas 50 × 40 cm £2,500

6

R i o d i S a n G i u s e p p e , Ve n i c e Oil on canvas 50 × 40 cm £2,500

7

Harry's Dolci Closes for Winter Oil on canvas 50 × 40 cm £2,500

8

November Sun on the Redwoods, Oxford Oil on canvas 50 × 60 cm £2,750 9

N i g h t L i g h t s , Ve n i c e Oil on canvas 40 × 50 cm £2,500

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Boatyard on the Lagoon Oil on canvas 46 × 56 cm £2,600 12

Wa i t i n g f o r H a r v e s t , C o t s w o l d s Oil on canvas 40 × 50 cm £2,500 13

Viale Giuseppe Garibaldi, Ve n i c e I Oil on canvas 50 × 40 cm £2,500

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Viale Giuseppe Garibaldi, Ve n i c e I I Oil on canvas 50 × 40 cm £2,500

15

To r c e l l o f r o m B u r a n o , Ve n i c e Oil on canvas 46 × 56 cm £2,600 16

M a r i n a S a n G i o r g i o , Ve n i c e I Oil on canvas 45 × 61 cm £2,650 17

Hugger Mugger behind the Redentore Oil on canvas 40 × 50 cm £2,500 18

S t u d y i n G r e y s , Ve n i c e Oil on gessoed wooden panel 30 × 40 cm £1,850 19

Breez y Afternoon at Harry's Dolci Oil on canvas 40 × 50 cm £2,500 20

' F l o r a' b y A r i s t i d e M a i l l o l , Oxford Oil on canvas 50 × 40 cm £2,500

21

Oxford University Parks, November Oil on canvas 40 × 50 cm £2,500 22

Harry's Dolci, November Night Oil on board 40 × 50 cm £2,500 23

Fr o m t h e 1 0 t h H o l e , L i d o Oil on canvas 30.5 × 40.5 cm £1,850 24

Rain in Charlbury Oil on canvas 40 × 50 cm £2,500 25

Rain, Cornbur y Park, Cotswolds Oil on gessoed wooden panel 30 × 20 cm £1,400 26

Tr a n q u i l l i t y Oil on gessoed wooden panel 30 × 20 cm £1,400 27

N o G r a n d i N a v i a Ve n e z i a !

Oil on canvas 50 × 40 cm £2,500

28

O u t o f S e a s o n , G i u d e c c a , Ve n i c e Oil on canvas 40 × 50 cm £2,500 29

M i r a g e , Ve n i c e I Oil on gessoed wooden panel 20 × 30 cm £1,400 30

M a r i n a S a n G i o r g i o , Ve n i c e I I Oil on canvas 40 × 50 cm £2,500 31

In the Mist Oil on canvas 40 × 50 cm £2,500

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The Garden of the Palazzo Molin I Oil on canvas 46 × 56 cm £2,600 34

The Garden of the Palazzo Molin II Oil on canvas 46 × 56 cm £2,600 35

B o a t y a r d , L a t e A f t e r n o o n , Ve n i c e Oil on canvas 40 × 50 cm £2,500 36

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HUNGERFORD

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Barrs Yard, Unit 4

London SW10 0AD

1 Bath Road Hungerford RG17 0HE

T: 020 7352 2733

T: 01488 647351

M: 07778 568 367

M: 07778 568 367

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