Samuel READ, RWS (British, 1816-1883)
Chapel of Saint James, Toledo Cathedral
Pencil and watercolour heightened with white, on board
Signed 'S. Read 1867' lower left
Image size: 44.5 x 63.5 cm (17½ x 25 in)
Framed size: 72 x 90 cm (28¼ x 35½ in)
Priced at £3,250
See commentary below and Biography

Since many of our clients lead busy professional lives, we will be pleased
to bring work to your office or home for viewing (London & Home Counties),
by appointment, and with no cost or obligation to purchase.

The Importance of Architectural Identification

The invention and subsequent popularisation of the photographic process in the mid-1880s changed the art world dramatically.  Until this time, painting had been favoured by the wealthy not purely as a 'decorative' medium but also (and arguably more importantly) as a visual historical record, whether in the form of family portraits, potential marriage suitors (e.g. the countless miniatures that Henry VIII received), geographical maps, panoramas (including landscaped gardens) as well as architectural drawings.

Such visual records are of the utmost importance to, amongst others, historians, art historians, architects, sociologists and religious scholars: they greatly enrich our understanding of different social lives, customs, art, culture, dress etc.  For example, it is due to the architectural vedute (views) created by the Italian artists Giovanni Paolo Panini (1691-1765), Giovanni Antonio Canaletto (1697-1768) and Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778) that we are able to gain a true insight into 17th and 18th century Italian life.

This ability to 'reconstruct' the past is also of fundamental significance to restorers when faced with the need to repair public buildings, monuments and sculptures severely damaged by natural disasters or war.  And it is thanks to such detailed artistic records that some of the world's greatest edifices have been faithfully re-created.

Albany prides itself in carrying out conscientious and thorough research into the works that it buys and sell.  And we are often pleasantly surprised with the results.  This was the case with our acquisition of the 'Chapel of Saint James, Toledo Cathedral' by Samuel Read, RWS, the highly-regarded Victorian illustrator and painter whose work combined his study of watercolour, architecture and engraving.  Read's acute architectural observation did not go unnoticed: "In the conception and delineation, most especially, of picturesque old buildings, rural mansions or castles, invested with an air of romance by their supposed associations with the lives of former generations, Mr Read's power of this ideal kind was effectively displayed… Interiors of grand old Churches and Cathedrals were another class of subjects which he treated with great effect." (Read's Obituary, Illustrated London News, 1883) 

Previously described as 'Interior Canterbury Cathedral', we contacted the Canterbury Cathedral Archives who advised that the scene depicted was not that of Canterbury Cathedral and suggested a Continental Catholic location, possibly in Italy or Spain.  Further research helped us identify the true location as the 'Chapel of Saint James, Toledo Cathedral', and specifically to the identification of the tombs of Don Álvaro de Luna y Jarana, Lord High Constable of Castile (1388/90-1453), flanked by Knights of Saint James, and of his wife, Doña Juana de Pimentel, flanked by Franciscan friars, in the Chapel of Saint James (also called the Chapel of Álvaro de Luna), built between 1435-c.1498, in the Cathedral of Toledo, Spain.

The city of Toledo was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986 for its extensive cultural and monumental heritage as one of the former capitals of the Spanish Empire and place of co-existence of Christian, Jewish and Moorish cultures.  A copy of this work has subsequently been sent to Toledo Cathedral to add to their historical archives.  Executed in 1867, 'Chapel of Saint James, Toledo Cathedral' demonstrates not only Read's mastery of this difficult painterly medium but acts as an important artistic, architectural and religious historical record.

Best wishes

CHRIS NOEL-JOHNSON
ALBANY FINE ART

T: +44 (0) 1367 870961
M: +44 (0) 7799 691 692
E: chrisnj@albanyfineart.co.uk