CHARLES HODGE MACKIE R.S.A., R.S.W., P.S.S.A. (SCOTTISH 1862-1920) STUDYING TINTORETTO IN THE DUCAL Signed, inscribed verso, oil on panel

(53cm x 65cm (20.75in x 25.5in))

Exhibited: Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1920, no. 47

This work was created as a result of Mackie's painting trips to Venice before 1914. He exhibited it in the Royal Scottish Academy's Annual Exhibition of 1920, shortly before his death. In their first review of the exhibition, The Scotman's art critic singled Mackie out for praise, writing that his 'Venetian and Spanish night scenes are marked by rich colour and accomplished artistry' going on to describe the present painting as a 'finely handled study of an apartment in the Doge’s Palace, with its superb decorations by Tintoretto.' The paper's fourth notice about the show declared of Mackie that 'with him design is not so much imposed upon an observed effect as a process which, taking up that effect, accentuates it by stressing the light and shade, by controlling it, and by emphasizing the main colour harmony by regulating the quantities and, if need be by enriching them by contrast, discord or extension of the scale in a selected direction. This is seen very felicitously in the Spanish night scene...and more obviously, although still very happily in Studying Tintoretto in the Ducal Palace.' We are grateful to Pat Clark, author of 'People, Places & Piazzas: The Life & Art of Charles H. Mackie', Sansom & Company, Bristol, 2016, for her assistance in researching this work.