Notes

Wenning’s latest lot of works, which have just been painted in Lourenço Marques, show a beauty of conception, a brilliancy of colour, and an individuality of view that is absolutely astonishing. His delineation of light and atmosphere is so wonderful that one almost feels the heat shimmering. All the canvases are small but contain a wealth of apparent detail that has to be seen to be believed. Wenning handles his colour in a manner that is totally different to any other artist in the country, and it is in this handling that his individuality proves so strong.
- Ernest Lizard

Wenning spent the winter months of 1917 in Lourenço Marques. Having arrived in that July, he stayed in a small chalet on the Avenida Vinte e Quatro de Juhlo, in walking distance of the old fort, Polana Beach, and the Palm Grove. The present lot, an evocative vista of the city from a northerly viewpoint, takes in the busy harbour, aquamarine bay, terracotta rooftops, and the dome of the railway station, then just completed in the Beaux-Arts style.

Provenance

Sotheby Parke-Bernet, Johannesburg, 10 May 1984, lot 8.