A Brescian lake; Limone, Lake Garda

In 1913, La Thangue set off from Provence across Northern Italy to Venice, stopping at the village of Limone on Lake Garda. Here the picturesque vines growing by the lakeside provided an appealing tracery that imitated Japanese graphic effects. There were, no doubt, recollections of Corot, some of whose most poetic landscapes were painted on the shores of Lake Garda, and it is possible that La Thangue had heard that John Singer Sargent had stayed for a time at San Virgilio at the southern end of the lake. Garda , where the borders of Trento, Brescia and Verona meet the Brenner Pass, boasted its own 'riviera' coastline and eulogizing the beauties of the region generally, Henry James declared it the place 'to which inflamed young gentlemen invite the wives of other gentlemen to fly with them and ignore the restrictions of public opinion'. For La Thangue however, it was simply 'the deep yellow light that enchants you and tells you where you are' (Henry James, Italian Hours, 1909, New York, Black Cat ed., 1979, p. 91, 104).

K Mc