About this artwork
San Gimignano, near Siena in Italy, is a well-preserved Renaissance hill-town. Nicholson first visited it in 1950 but returned on several occasions following his relocation to Switzerland in 1958. The combination of architecture and landscape suited Nicholson because it allowed him to mix geometry with natural forms. Here he has captured the curvature of a stone archway in the town. These confident, singular lines of the man-made forms contrast to the feverish scribble of the tree in the background. The warm wash of oil paint gives the work a continental glow of spring sunshine. This emphasises Nicholson’s statement: “When I draw an Italian cathedral I don’t draw its architecture, but the feeling it gives me”.
Updated before 2020
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artist:Ben Nicholson (1894 - 1982) English
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title:May 1959 (Porta San Jacopo, San Gimignano)
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date created:May 1959
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materials:Pencil and oil wash
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measurements:Paper: 36.00 x 51.00 cm (framed: 49.00 x 64.00 cm)
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object type:
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credit line:Bequeathed by Felicitas Vogler 2007
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accession number:GMA 4880
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gallery:
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artwork photographed by:Antonia Reeve
Ben Nicholson
Ben Nicholson
Ben Nicholson was the eldest son of the painters William Nicholson and Mabel Pryde. He did not devote himself seriously to art until 1920, the same year he married the artist Winifred Roberts. His early works were simple and traditional still lifes. In 1921 he saw an exhibition of cubist paintings...