Castrogiovanni In Sicily

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Castrogiovanni In Sicily

Cecil Arthur Hunt (1873-1965)

Price

£1,750

Signed

Signed and indistinctly inscribed with title
Watercolour sketch of landscape on reverse

Medium

Watercolour and bodycolour

Dimensions

11 x 15 ¼ inches

Provenance

The Artist's Family

Exhibited

'Cecil Arthur Hunt VPRWS RBA', Chris Beetles Gallery, London, October 1996, no 69;
'Chris Beetles Summer Show', Chris Beetles Gallery, London, 2011, no 249;
'Italy 1800-2025: A Celebration of an English Love Affair', Chris Beetles Gallery, London, April 2025

Cecil Hunt exhibited works of the same title in 1926 in the RWS Spring (no 37) and Summer (no 84) exhibitions.

Hunt visited Castrogiovanni in 1925 and again in 1926, the year that the hill town changed it's name to Enna. On this occasion he and his wife Phyllis travelled to Rome by train and then toured south by car, down to Naples and Calabria and across to Sicily, to stay at his friend and art critic, R H Kitson's, villa in Taormina (sketchbooks 16 and 20).
In 1925 he wrote:
'Oct 17 Sunday. Lunch Canicatti -– slept Girgenti [Agrigento] – Hotel Gellia. Took a disused road by mistake – incredibly bad -– very fine day to Motoud [?] & temples [Valley of the Temples, S Agrigento], sketched & walked back over an hours walk. Mauve sunset. Hotel bedroom full of mosquitos – killed 9 during night – decent hotel
18. Lunched Caltanisetta – fine big place – Reached Castrogiovanni about 4. Magnificent scenery all the way. CG a wonderful hill town. Hotel Belvedere good & good view.'

Mounted