Between Two Fires: A Dream (St. Peter’s, Rome)

Carel Weight (1908 - 1997)

Oil on canvas

1945

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  • About the work
    Location
    Country: UK
    City: London
    Place: Government Art Collection
    As an Official War Artist during the Second World War, Carel Weight travelled extensively in Europe, recording people and places in his work. From 1945 to 1946, the War Artists’ Advisory Committee (WAAC) sent him to Italy, Greece and Austria to record buildings and sites destroyed or damaged during the conflict. ‘Between Two Fires: A Dream (St Peter’s, Rome)’ is one of the paintings produced in this period.

    Weight spent his first week as a War Artist sightseeing in Rome. ’Between Two Fires: A Dream (St Peter’s Rome)’ is a night time scene of a group of figures on a balcony overlooking St Peter’s Square. The two men in uniform in the centre are priests (their clerical dog collars just glimpsed at their necks). Flanked by two women on either side, one reads his guidebook, while the other casts a surreptitious glance at the woman to his right. 

    While the title of Weight’s painting has an air of romanticism, in fact, this scene had prosaic origins. After the War, when reflecting on whether the WAAC would approve his painting, Weight commented on ‘... a little picture which I don’t think will be exhibited ... of two padres sightseeing in Rome greatly distracted by the licentious Roman courtesans.’ To his surprise, the WAAC accepted his painting. Over a dozen works by Weight were allocated by the WAAC to the Government Art Collection in 1946.

  • About the artist
    Carel Weight was born in London. His grandfather came from Hamburg (and was, according to the artist, the first professional chiropodist ever to come to England). Weight studied at Hammersmith College of Art from 1928–30 and at Goldsmiths College from 1931–33. During the Second World War he was an Official War Artist, at the instigation of Kenneth (later Lord) Clark, a close friend with whom he frequently discussed art and history. As a War Artist, Weight visited Austria, Italy and Greece, and the Government Art Collection owns a number of works painted by him at this time. After the War, he taught at the Royal College of Art, becoming Professor of Painting in 1957. He exhibited internationally and is represented in many public collections. A retrospective exhibition of Weight’s work was held in 1982 at the Royal Academy, followed by a smaller show there in 1988 to mark his eightieth birthday. In 1995 a retrospective exhibition of his work as an Official War Artist was held at the Imperial War Museum in London.
  • Explore
    Places
    Italy, Vatican City, St. Peter's Basilica, St. Peter's Square, Rome
    Subjects
    statue (as Subject), paper (as Subject), topography, WW2 art, genre, townscape/cityscape, night, fire, man, woman, dream, military uniform, soldier, World War II, lamp post, piazza, monument, basilica, dome, balustrade, column, pillar (architectural feature)
    Materials & Techniques
    canvas, oil, oil painting
  • Details
    Artist
    Carel Weight (1908 - 1997)
    Title
    Between Two Fires: A Dream (St. Peter’s, Rome)
    Date
    1945
    Medium
    Oil on canvas
    Dimensions
    height: 16.50 cm, width: 24.00 cm
    Acquisition
    Presented via the Imperial War Museum, War Artists' Advisory Committee, April 1946
    Inscription
    none
    Provenance
    Gift from Imperial War Museum, War Artists' Advisory Committee 1946
    GAC number
    592