FRANCIS CAMPBELL BOILEAU CADELL R.S.A., R.S.W. (SCOTTISH 1883-1937)
MULL FROM THE NORTH END OF IONA
Signed and dated '14, oil on canvas board
38cm x 46cm (15in x 18in)
Acquired from the Artist by George W. Service, Glasgow and thence by descent to the present owner
Mull from the North End of Iona is a rare example of a pre-World War One painting of the Hebridean island which was to become a mainstay of inspiration for the rest of Cadell’s career.  Furthermore, it was acquired from the artist by his great patron, the Glasgow ship-owner George W. Service and has not been exhibited in public since then.Cadell visited Iona, off the west coast of Scotland, for the first time in 1912. He returned in the summers of 1913 and 1914, before serving with the 9th Battalion, The Royal Scots and the 5th Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. As Alice Strang has explained:“The ever-changing light conditions on Iona, the effect of sunshine on the shallow water along the beaches of dazzling white sand, the intensity and range of colour of the surrounding sea, sky and land, the complexity of its rock formations and wide range of views within and beyond the island, inspired Cadell time after time and he returned to Iona most summers until about 1933.” (Alice Strang, F. C. B. Cadell, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2011, p.19).As seen in this painting, Cadell’s early Iona works were executed with glossy, creamy oil paint with freely applied and often short brushstrokes. The technique is more expressive than the more precisely realised images of the post-war years. To the fore are the subtle tones of pink and lilac which provided the foundation of Cadell’s distinctive palette, whatever the genre, and even informed the decorative scheme of his New Town studios in Edinburgh’s George Street and Ainslie Place. Touches of blues and greens express sunshine breaking through cloud, the differing depths of the sea and vegetation amongst rocks and sand. It was during these pre-war visits that Cadell fell in love with Iona. Whilst on active service, his friend and fellow Scottish Colourist S. J. Peploe wrote to him: “When the war is over I shall go to the Hebrides, recover some virtues I have lost. There is something marvellous about those western seas. Oh, Iona. We must all go together next summer.” (Letter from S. J. Peploe to F. C. B. Cadell of 2 August 1918, quoted in Strang, op.cit., p.77). Indeed, Cadell took Peploe there in 1920 and the latter also returned for regular summer visits for the rest of his life, often choosing to paint in the beautiful North End, as Cadell did in the current work.Cadell met George Service, who summered on Iona with his eight children and their nanny, during his first trip to the island in 1912. Service became one of Cadell’s greatest supporters and appears frequently in the artist’s Register of Pictures, which he maintained between 1907 and 1930 to record works which he sold or gave away and which is on long-term loan to the National Galleries of Scotland. As Strang continues:“Service would don his tartan dress jacket for the night of his annual purchase of paintings by Cadell…He often bought several paintings at a time, mainly, but not exclusively of Iona…which he hung in his homes in Glasgow and Dunbartonshire.” (Strang, ibid., pp.79-80) Mull from the North End of Iona has descended directly from Service to the present owner.