Cadell was born in 1883 in Edinburgh with natural artistic ability and a deep desire to express his love of life through his work. Apart from the official tuition that he received in Paris at the Academie Julien between 1899 and 1902, the exposure to the powerful forces that were emerging in France at the time and during his subsequent return visits to Paris obviously had an effect on the young artist. He would have clearly seen the Fauve works of Matisse and Derain, for example, and the influence of the Impressionists, which could be seen at the Durand Ruel's Gallery and at Salle Caillebotte was particularly strong, and some of Cadell's best early work emphasises the mark that these paintings made on him.

The most dramatic change in the style of Cadell's work came after the end of the war. Perhaps in a reaction to the squalor and chaos of the trenches, his still life and interior works took on completely new form. In 1920 Cadell moved to Ainslie Place where he lived and worked. The elaborate Georgian townhouse echoed the artist’s lavish and organised post-war lifestyle coupled with his strong interest in interior design. His studio/living room was immaculate and sparsely decorated, with mauve coloured walls and a black gloss floor.

Pure primary colours in a deliberate and well-defined structure replaced the looser handling and spontaneity of the pre-war paintings. It is works of this period that confirm Cadell's greatest attributes - his remarkable versatility. Always working with an obvious interest in the quality of the paint, he seemed equally at home with any subject. He painted landscapes, seascapes, figure subjects, cows, sheep, ships and boats with equal facility. The angularity of his paintings of the 1920's gave way to an equally colourful but more pattern orientated approach. The red chair, a prominent feature of the present work, became a striking focal point in many of his paintings. With its clean, geometric shape it is clear to see why Cadell enjoyed portraying the chair in this period of his artistic career. Its form, plus the deliberate intense colour allowed the artist to further experiment with a ‘flatness’ in his work: cutting through darker tones and echoing the French decorative style which greatly inspired him.

The chair served many roles within Cadell’s painting. In one of the few male portraits titled The Boxer (circa 1925), Cadell depicts champion middleweight William ‘Basher Willie’ Thomson posed on the seat. The importance of colour in this oil is unmistakeable: the bold red contrasting wonderfully with the sitter’s pastel skin and an equally dramatic teal backdrop. Looking at the present work, the human subject has been replaced by a familiar blue jug, sitting alongside other time-honoured still life objects (fruit and draped fabric). The fact that Cadell chose to title this work 'The Blue Jug', suggests that the chair itself is secondary in comparison to the visual form and colours which it creates. On other occasions, a vacant chair is depicted. This can be perceived both as a device to invite the viewer deeper into the painting or, akin to van Gogh, represent the artist himself as a symbolic self-portrait.

Portland Gallery exclusively represents the estate of Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell.