Craigie Aitchison, R.A. (1926-2009)

Landscape from inside a Cathedral is a beautiful example of Craigie Aitchison’s refined and balanced palette, complete with the more muted tones Aitchison had picked up from his time travelling around Italy; these replaced the far brighter colours from the years prior to this. The artist was captivated by Piero della Francesca’s Legend of the True Cross in Arezzo Cathedral, a work which influenced not only his colour palette but his decisions on composition, and extending the work right to the edge of the canvas. Dividing his experience into a ‘before’ and ‘after’ Italy, the artist began to move away from painting objects in isolation. In this work, he situates the landscape within the frame of a cathedral window, creating a viewpoint which draws the eye towards the brighter outdoors. The cross, prominently purple in the centre left of this work, became a recurrent symbol in Aitchison’s paintings in the years following. When he returned to Edinburgh from Italy, the artist focused his attention on landscapes and a series of crucifixion paintings. Upon first seeing the work, fellow artist Anthony Fry recalled that he couldn’t stop thinking about it: 'I just loved that picture. And I wasn’t a great purchaser, I wasn’t a buyer. I didn’t have much money. But I decided that definitely I was going to get it' (quoted in C. Haste, Craigie Aitchison A Life in Colour, Farnham, 2014, p. 52).