Built to commemorate Venice’s deliverance from the plague and consecrated in 1687, the ‘Basilica della Salute’ is one of the city’s most important architectural landmarks and stands at the entrance to the Grand Canal. For an artist with a pronounced interest in the genre of the interior, its soaring arches and columns, two domes, statuary, side chapels, altars, chandeliers and patterned marble floor provided rich subject matter. In the present painting a sense of scale is created by contrasting the seated and standing figures with their imposing surroundings. A swirl of brushstrokes suggests the highly-ornate flooring and particular attention is paid to highlights of red and gold in the décor, as the eye is lifted ever upwards to admire the capitals of the columns. Natural light flooding in from tiers of windows gleams upon stonework and metalwork, creating an atmosphere at once peaceful and impressive.
Such was the attraction that Santa Maria della Salute had for Cadell that he also painted a small oil of its interior and one of its exterior, on modestly-sized boards which would have been easy to transport and use whilst working ‘en plein air’; the latter was one of three Venetian works presented to the National Galleries of Scotland in 2014 in Ford’s honour. In contrast, the canvas of the present work measures 46 x 36”, an imposing scale to match that of its subject and one that would have been created as a fully contemplated studio painting. This trio of works were three of the six that Ford received in return for his patronage, as recorded in the Register of Pictures Cadell compiled between 1907 and 1930, listing sales and gifts of works as well as his annual total income (on loan from a private collection to the National Galleries of Scotland). Interior – Santa Maria della Salute appears as ‘Oil (large)’, differentiated from ‘Interior of the Salute’ an ‘Oil (small)’. In the absence of contemporary illustrations, this had led to some confusion over the present work’s exhibition history though given its scale and significance it is more likely to have been selected for display than its diminutive sibling. Both are believed to have been included in Cadell’s solo show, Exhibition of Pictures of Venice, & c., mounted at The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh in November 1910.
