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Lot 149
A diamond three stone ring, the central round old cut diamond weighing approximately 0.50 carats (4.8mm W x 3.4mm D) with a further round old cut diamond to each side, each weighing approximately 0.40 - 0.45 carats, claw set in white metal to tapering shoulders and plain polished yellow gold coloured shank (unmarked), ring size K, weight 2.9gmsThere is a chip to the edge of the central diamond, just beneath one of the claws (this can be seen around the bottom left claw in the first image). All diamonds show minor nibbling and wear to the girdles, and general scratching and wear throughout, but no other chips, cracks or losses. Claws show varying degrees of wear, and appear to have been retipped, but are largely in good order and stones are secure. Shank in good order, no major thinning, splitting, resizing or repair, general scratching and wear commensurate with age and use only. Central diamond diamond is approximately SI2, the other diamond to the shoulder is SI1. One of the shoulder stones has an approximate clarity of I. Please note - colour grading may be impacted due to settings. All stones show minor draw of colour when viewed face up, when viewed from side the approximate colour is G/H/I - these have been assessed in setting.
Lot 4
A George V silver trophy cup, S Blanckensee & Son Ltd, Birmingham 1911, the circular bowl with pierced decoration upon stepped pedestal foot and three scrolling handles, blue glass liner, inscription to foot 'Glamorgan Daffodil & Spring Flower Show 1914 First Prize for Anemones' 13cm high (at fault - liner stuck in bowl)
Lot 456
Four Beswick horse models, comprising: a Palomino Large Racehorse, model number 1564, printed mark, 28.5cm high; a Mare And Foal On Base, model number 952 (second version), printed mark, 19cm high; a Grazing Shire, model number 1050, printed mark, 14cm high (at fault); and a Swish Tail Horse, model number 1182 (first version), printed mark, 22cm high (at fault); with a further model of a shire horse, unmarked, 19.7cm high (at fault), and a Beswick Barn Owl, model number 1046, 19.5cm high (6)
Lot 560
A needlework sampler, probably early 19th century, worked by Ada Davies aged 13, the lower section depicting a house, gardens and animals, the upper section with the alphabet and numbers above the first verse from "We Will Walk In The Light" by Mary Masters, later framed and glazed, 53cm x 52.5cm overall
Lot 19
Oil on canvas50 x 40 in. (127 x 101.6cm)Executed circa 1710-1720.Housed in a period giltwood frame.ProvenanceBy family descent to Captain Robert Archibald James Montgomerie R.N. (1855 - 1908) of Edinburgh.To his son Captain Robert Victor Campbell Montgomerie-Charrington, 1st Life Guards, of Newport, Rhode Island.Thence by family descent.Private Collection, Massachusetts.NoteThis very early work by Aikman was painted around the time the artist was first coming to the attention of Daniel Campbell, who fostered his career and eventual success in London. Aikman here presents us with Campbell's first wife, Margaret Leckie, the daughter of John Leckie of Newlands. Together, they had three sons and three daughters. When Margaret died relatively young, Daniel remarried. The portrait of Daniel Campbell featured on the cover of Joanna Hill and Nicholas Bastin's biography of Daniel Campbell (A Very Canny Scot: “Great” Daniel Campbell of Shawfield & Islay 1670-1753, Two Plus George Ltd, 2007) may have been the pendant to the present work. The couple's eldest son and Daniel's heir, John Campbell is featured by Margaret's side. John eventually married Lady Margaret Campbell, daughter of the Earl of Loudon. As they had no children and she died young, he remarried to Lady Henrietta Cunninghame, daughter of the Earl of Glencairn, with whom he had three sons: John, Daniel and Walter.To request a condition report, or for any additional information, please email Raphael Chatroux at rchatroux@freemansauction.com.
Lot 20
Pencil inscribed with the sitter's name on upper stretcher verso, oil on canvas50 x 40 in. (127 x 101.6cm)Executed circa 1710-1720.Housed in a period giltwood frame.ProvenanceBy family descent to Captain Robert Archibald James Montgomerie R.N. (1855 - 1908) of Edinburgh.To his son Captain Robert Victor Campbell Montgomerie-Charrington, 1st Life Guards, of Newport, Rhode Island.Thence by family descent.Private Collection, Massachusetts.NoteJohn Campbell was a Knight of the Garter and senior commander of the British Army. He served first on the continent during the Nine Years War, and fought at the Battle of Kaiserwerth during the War of the Spanish Succession. Most famously, he commanded the troops that put down the 1715 Jacobite rebellion. He died in 1743 and his body still remains in Westminster Abbey, not far from Henry VIII. To request a condition report, or for any additional information, please email Raphael Chatroux at rchatroux@freemansauction.com.
Lot 56
Dedicated and signed 'à l'ami Colville/J.J. Tissot' bottom right; also illegibly inscribed in pencil (by another hand) 'Antoine [illeg.] (Colville) / Porzellanmaler [?]ab. 1793 Ruffey sur Seille/Jura/1867' on the middle stretcher bar verso, oil on canvas19 1/2 x 22 1/4 in. (49.5 x 56.5cm)Executed circa 1864.Please note this Lot will be on view in New York City at the National Arts Club (15 Gramercy Pk S) the week of January 23. To make an appointment, please contact Raphael Chatroux at rchatroux@freemansauction.comProvenanceThe Artist.A gift from the above.Collection of Antoine Colville.Collection of Mr. and Mrs. John Marqusee, New York, New York.A gift from the above.Private Collection, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Exhibited"James Jacques Joseph Tissot, 1836-1902: A Retrospective Exhibition," Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, February 28-March 29, 1968; and Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, April 6-May 5, 1968 (traveling exhibition), no. 5LiteratureDavid S. Brooke, Michael Wentworth et al., James Jacques Joseph Tissot, 1836-1902: A Retrospective Exhibition, an exhibition catalogue, Rhode Island Museum of Art Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, 1968 (illustrated).Michael Wentworth, James Tissot, Clarendon Press and Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford respectively, 1984, pl. 22 (illustrated).NoteWe wish to thank Ms. Krystyna Matyjaszkiewicz for confirming the authenticity of the present lot, and for her assistance in preparing the below catalogue entry.During the early years of his career, James Tissot (1836-1902)—christened Jacques Joseph but known as James from childhood and using that name professionally as an artist—painted compositions of figures in historical dress, as well as undertaking portrait commissions. At first he used costumes based on German 16th century fashions, which were considered to be “medieval”. After a visit to Italy, including Venice, Tissot extended his costume range to include Italian and French-inspired late 16th century garments. Such costumes appeared frequently on the Paris stage at that time in both operas and plays, such as Les Huguenots and Hamlet. History pictures depicting the same era, when Henri IV was king of France, had also been popularised in the 19th century by artists whom Tissot admired, notably Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867). Tissot either borrowed “Huguenot-style” theatrical dress or had similar garments made up by dressmakers, as a number of pieces are worn by models posed in different ways for various historical-dress compositions, including Sur la Plage.The young woman in the centre wears a black gown with sleeves that are puffed and “paned” or slashed at the top, and close-fitting below. White edging emphasises the paned sleeves and high neckline, with a tall collar ending in a small white ruff. The paned sleeves reveal a pale-grey silk lining below. She wears a matching black velvet cap with white feathers. A black chalk drawing by Tissot of a bare-headed model wearing the same dress is known (currently unlocated) and the same costume appears full-length in Promenade on the Ramparts, 1864 (Cantor Arts Centre, Stanford University, California), Tentative d’Enlèvement [The Attempted Abduction], 1865, and Le Rendez-vous, about 1867 (both unlocated). Both male costumes also feature in Promenade on the Ramparts, where the boy in pink jerkin and black puffed-sleeve jacket has grey hose and black shoes rather than the over-the-knee boots he wears in Sur la Plage, and the man has different trunk hose with grey rather than buff-coloured jerkin.The white and grey horses, and a dark-coloured animal beside the man that might be intended as a mule or donkey rather than a horse, are lightly sketched in. The dog is sketched with more confidence than the other animals, and dogs of various types appear in many of his works but horses are rarer. Although the painting was not sufficiently complete for exhibition, it was probably liked, and may have been requested by Tissot’s friend, Antoine Colville (1793-1867), to whom it was dedicated by the artist. Colville painted miniatures and was also employed to decorate ceramics. He was born in the Jura, west of France, near to where the family of Tissot’s father had lived after emigration from Italy, and their origins may have linked the two artists.Tissot’s paintings often provide hints of stories, leaving the viewer to imagine what may have occurred or is about to happen. Given the historical costumes, the figures on the beach here could be Huguenots escaping from persecution and waiting to escape France by boat. In escaping they haven’t been able to take much with them, as no baggage is evident. Alternatively they might be waiting for someone about to arrive by sea. The rocky cliffs and narrow stretch of sand suggest precariousness. Both adults are looking out to sea but the boy is looking directly at the viewer (and the artist), sullen and less than happy about having to sit and wait.Frame: 25 12 x 28 x 2 1/2 in.The relined canvas in overall very good condition. Examination under UV light reveals scattered areas of old greenish varnish, indicative of a clean. We also notice two small areas of restoration: one to the right of the male figure, in the rocky background; and another on the central horse's mane and neck (pinpoint sized). For more information, please see Specialist's images. To have access to such images, please email Raphael Chatroux at rchatroux@freemansauction.com.
Lot 58
Signed and dated 'W-BOVGVEREAV-1895' bottom left, oil on canvas62 3/8 x 36 in. (158.5 x 91.5cm)Please note this Lot will be on view in New York City at the National Arts Club (15 Gramercy Pk S) the week of January 23. To make an appointment, please contact Raphael Chatroux at rchatroux@freemansauction.comProvenanceThe Artist.Acquired directly from the above.Collection of Solomon Mehrbach, New York, New York.A.A.A, New York, New York, sale of March 1, 1906, Lot 128 (as The Gardener's Daughter).Acquired directly from the above sale.Collection of Colonel Nathan H. Heft, Bridgeport, Connecticut.A.A.A., New York, sale of January 22, 1920, Lot 72 (as The White Rose).Acquired directly from the above sale.Private Collection, New York.A.A.A., New York, sale of November 17, 1938, Lot 64 (as The Wild Rose).Acquired directly from the above sale.Collection of Michael J. Kutza, USA.Sotheby's, New York, sale of April 28, 1977, Lot 169 (as La Fille du Jardinier).Acquired directly from the above sale.Private Collection, North Carolina.Exhibited"North Carolina Collects: Traditional Fine Arts and Decorative Arts," Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina, July 9-September 18, 1994, no. 7 (as Peasant Girl).LiteratureWilliam Bouguereau's Accounts, as L'odorat.Amable Charles Franquet de Franqueville, "William Bouguereau" in Le Premier Siècle de l'Institut de France, Vol. I, J. Rothschild, Paris, 1895, p. 370 (as La Fleur).Marius Vachon, W. Bouguereau, A. Lahure, Paris, 1900, p. 29 (as L'odorat).Braun & Clément, Oeuvres Choisies des Maîtres Anciens et Modernes, Braun, Clément et Cie., New York, 1907, no. 5445 (illustrated as La Fleur Préférée). Mark Steven Walker, William Bouguereau: A Summary Catalogue of the Paintings, New York, 1991, p. 74.Damien Bartoli and Frederick C. Ross, William Bouguereau: Catalogue Raisonné of his Painted Work, Vol. II, Antique Collectors' Club , New York and Art Renewal Center, Woodbridge, NJ, 2010, no. 1895/12, pl. 225 (illustrated as La Fleur Préférée).NoteThe highly refined and polished art of William Bouguereau is often used as the quintessential illustration of 19th Century French Academism. His name is forever associated with images of elegant female sitters, mostly young girls and teens, as well as mythological figures, caught in a moment of grace, lightness, and sensuality, with an almost photographic quality. These artistic traits, which Bouguereau refined throughout his fifty-year-long-career, made him hugely successful, both academically and financially. It also enabled him to present and sell his work in the United States early on, where such academic finesse and gentle moralization appealed to conservative, often industrialist, collectors of the Gilded Age. At the time of Bouguereau’s death in 1905, The New York Times even concluded: “at one time to possess a Bouguereau was regarded as the first necessity for an art patron.”Appearing at auction for the first time in over fifty years, the present work dates from the artist’s mature, experienced period, just ten years before his death. It was most likely a “tableau de vacances,” executed in the summer of 1895 while Bouguereau sojourned in his villa on rue Verdière in La Rochelle, and completed later that same year in the artist’s Parisian studio. Bouguereau repeatedly worked from live models and was known for hiring Italian teenagers in the region, whom he paid generously to gain their trust, so they would appear in later works. While the identity of our sitter remains a mystery, she was most likely a local Rochelaise, whose delicate treats and slender allure appealed to the master.On many levels, La Fleur Préférée is a textbook example of Bouguereau’s artistic mastery. In a lush landscape stands an almost life-size paysanne, unalarmed, her bare feet firmly planted in the dirt path on which she was walking before stumbling upon us. Simply dressed (she wears a traditional bodice and draped dress like many peasant girls of the time), she holds a small bouquet of wildflowers, from which she plucked a white rose -the titular favorite flower- which she languorously sniffs. Like many of Bouguereau’s earlier works, La Fleur Préférée stands as an idealized version of rustic life. Contrary to Jean-François Millet, Léon Lhermitte or Jules Breton who also depicted farmers and peasants, Bouguereau does not hint at the harsh conditions associated with the rural way of life. The young woman is beautiful, elegant (although her attire is simple, a rather sophisticated scarf is tied on her shoulders), and immaculate, as revealed by her pristine apron, and her clean hands and feet, which Bouguereau particularly excels at rendering here in a formidable foreshortening. According to Alfred Nettement, a student of the master at the Académie Julian in Paris, Bouguereau in fact had “absolute horror of what he would call realism and he always said that reality is charming when it borrows a gleam of poetry from imagination.”Yet, the present work slightly differs from Bouguereau’s past depictions of young maidens, as it introduces a new sense of confrontation and directness which resembles the more provocative, modern works such as Jeune Bergère (1885), Jeune Bergère Debout (1887) and Petite Bergère (1891). This bold face à face is duplicitous. While at first glance one might see a young girl slightly intimidated by her encounter with the viewer, using the flower as a screen, a second read reveals a self-assured adolescent voluntarily engaging with us, assessing the male audience directly, with no hint of slyness, pruderie or reserve. The sitter projects self-assurance, and her heavy gaze implies coyness, flirting even, which somehow clashes with the so-called naïveté and innocence Bouguereau aimed at depicting in the French peasants he portrayed, and for which wealthy American collectors would pay large sums of money.Here, the narrative is stronger than usual, as revealed by the successive changes of title in our painting’s history, subtly implying that each of its owner preferred a different facet of the story. The bouquet the girl holds in her hands may have been assembled by her, as she wandered through the woods along the dirt path. In this version, Bouguereau would have depicted a moment suspended in time; a halt during which “the gardener’s daughter” picked her favorite flower to smell its intoxicating perfume before returning home, or to work. But the flowers could also have been collected by someone else.
Lot 59
Signed 'Elizabeth Gardner' bottom right, oil on canvas39 1/2 x 29 1/4 in. (77.5 x 74.3cm)Executed in 1888.ProvenancePrivate Collection, North Carolina.Exhibited"Salon de 1888," Palais des Champs-Élysées, Paris, 1888, no. 1071. "North Carolina Collects: Traditional Fine Arts and Decorative Arts," Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina, July 9-September 18, 1994, no. 23.LiteratureExplication des Ouvrages de Peinture, Sculpture, Architecture, Gravure et Lithographie des Artistes Vivants Exposés au Palais des Champs-Élysées le 1er Mai 1888, Paul Dupont, Paris, 1888 (second edition), p. 87, no. 1071 (listed, not illustrated).Norma Broude and Mary D. Garrard, The Expanding Discourse: Feminism and art History, IconEditions, New York, 1992, no. 8 (illustrated).Tamar Garb, Sisters of the Brush: Women's Artistic Culture in Late Nineteenth-Century Paris, Yale University Press, New Heaven, 1994, p. 157, no. 62.Charles Pearo, Elizabeth Jane Gardner: Her Life, Her Work, Her Letters, MA Thesis, McGill University, 1997, p. 9, fig. 16 (illustrated).NoteElizabeth Jane Gardner Bouguerau was one of the most famous and successful American artists in Paris at the end of the 19th century. Dubbed an honorary French woman through her marriage to William Bouguereau, she was one of the first expatriates to be exposed to the male-dominated Parisian art market, which she learned to infiltrate and eventually master throughout her impressive fifty-eight-year career in the French capital city.Born in Exeter, New Hampshire into a family of merchants, Gardner graduated from the Lasell Seminary (now Lasell University) in Auburndale, Massachusetts in 1856. At first a French teacher, she sailed for France in the summer of 1864 along with a former teacher of hers, Imogene Robinson, and the two settled in a studio 2, rue Carnot, across the street from the highly revered and successful painter, William Bouguereau.Contrary to another famous American expatriate who arrived in Paris two years after her, Mary Cassatt, Elizabeth Gardner could not count on any financial aid from her family, and therefore did not receive private tutoring from eminent masters. Instead, she trained and made a living by copying Old Masters at the Musée du Louvre, as well as the more contemporary artists in the nearby Musée du Luxembourg. She would then sell her work to American collectors travelling through Europe, recommended to her by her own family. Yearning life-drawing classes, but denied the access to them because of her gender, Gardner joined a collective studio of women, where she studied anatomy among her peers during evening sessions. In parallel, and at the recommendation of her friend Rosa Bonheur, a true “sister of the brush and long-time career counselor” according to Charles Pearo, Gardner also joined a sketching class at the Jardin des Plantes, Paris’ Botanical Gardens and Zoo, where she painted living animals alongside the animal sculptor Antoine Barye. There, she met the famous painter Hugues Merle, who would invite her to join his studio and acted as a constant support throughout Gardner’s life, even when she decided to rally the studio of Bouguereau, Merle’s longtime rival.The life of Elizabeth Gardner is marked by a strong desire to fit in. As an American woman from the low middle-class with an everlasting sense of duty and even guilt for leaving her country, Gardner could not afford to experiment with modern trends and embrace a radical career in the form of Impressionism. Instead, she had to study the rules set by the Institution and learn to respect them to blend and succeed in a very competitive milieu. This explains the artist’s polished, impeccable style, the true expression of French Academism adopted by many other American expatriates at the time, and her association with France’s ultimate forum and official place of recognition: the Salon. Gardner participated in thirty Salons, showing thirty-six of her works between 1868 (her first try, marked by two entries) and 1914, the apex of her participations being in 1887, the year she received a bronze medal for La Fille du Jardinier, thus becoming the only American woman to ever receive a medal.The present, rediscovered work follows this immense success. Set against a homey kitchen interior marked by several utensils and a slowly burning fire, a young mother sits lovingly behind her toddler child. Next to her, in a cradle, sleeps her youngest. Playfully, she watches a family of chickens eating at her feet, thus creating a tender echo between her and the mother hen with her chicklets. The work bears close resemblance to the style of William Bouguereau, champion of the Art Pompier, and whom Gardner never felt embarrassed to channel as she proudly explained to an interviewer in 1910: “I would rather be known as the best imitator of Bouguereau than be nobody.” At the time, views of idealized peasantry untouched by modern life were popular among Victorian collectors. As Bouguereau was facing an impressive number of requests of that nature (having started the trend himself), Gardner must have understood the benefits, both academic and financial, to work within this niche market and emulate her famous master’s style to satisfy a hungry crowd. Here Gardner adopts a smooth brushwork, she creates solid lines heightened by soft glazes and soft colors. She frames her subjects in a way that makes them seem monumental and ennobling. Just like Bouguereau, she pays great attention to the rendering of the hands and feet, and depicts her peasant woman barefoot, a characteristic of the romanticized view of French peasantry outside of urban areas, and which American collectors were particularly fond of.Despite the use of certain iconographic formulas however, one notes certain particularities that make the composition truly special, and which highlight Gardner’s very own artistic gifts. Contrary to Bouguereau’s figures, which are purposefully more static, Gardener’s mother and child interact with one another. They cuddle, and as such imply an inward movement which accentuates the intimacy of the moment. None of them are looking at us. On the contrary, they are so caught in the moment and display such a strong and natural bond that neither the artist nor the viewer can interrupt it. This feeling of a warm and pure love is further enhanced by the presence of the chickens. Traditionally seen as an element of femininity, they appear regularly in Gardner’s work, unlike Bouguereau’s (see for example La Fille du Jardinier -1887, Dans le Bois -1889, or La Captive -1883). The artist was fond of birds and owned herself an aviary of about 30 poultry in her studio.Such iconography appealed to her prude, mostly feminine clientele. It also helped strengthen the moral undertones of family love and accentuate the irreplaceable nature of the mother figure in the patriarchal society. In this regard, the piece can be seen as a modern, secular version of a Madonna and Child.
Lot 64
Signed 'Frits Thaulow.' (underlined) bottom left, oil on canvas32 x 39 1/2 in. (81.3 x 100.3cm)Please note this Lot will be on view in New York City at the National Arts Club (15 Gramercy Pk S) the week of January 23. To make an appointment, please contact Raphael Chatroux at rchatroux@freemansauction.comProvenanceCollection of Mr. and Mrs. Edmund Lyon, Buffalo, New York (acquired in Paris cira 1924)By descent to Mr. and Mrs. Francis K. Remington, Rochester, New York, circa 1938.By descent to Mr. and Mrs. William Moore Dietel, New York, New York and Flint Hill, Virginia, since 1995.NoteBorn in Oslo in 1847, Frits Thaulow found modest success as a painter of marine and coastal subjects under the tutelage of C.F. Sørensen at the Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. Following a short tenure in the studio of Hans-Fredrik Gude in Karlsruhe, Germany, Thaulow committed—in large part, for the remainder of his career—to painting landscapes, first in his native Norway and, subsequently, across northern and northwestern France.Thaulow’s views of the 1880s and 90s reveal a selective commingling of styles then au courant, from French academic Realism to Naturalism—in the manner of artists Léon Augustin Lhermitte and Jules Bastien-Lepage, whose paintings he would have encountered in Paris the previous decade—to Impressionism. A close friend of Monet and brother-in-law of Paul Gauguin (who, by the late 1870s was still painting in an impressionistic mode), he cultivated an approach that exploited the strengths of each movement. Retaining the compositional structure of mid-century Realism, Thaulow explored the relationship between humans and nature à la Naturalism, while embracing the Impressionist preoccupation with color, light, and atmosphere. His carefully studied depictions of canals, riverbanks, and rural hamlets—the bulk of his output across the final two decades of his life—best reflect this synthesis.Settling in France in 1892, Thaulow executed a spate of characteristic and critically-acclaimed canvases, mostly in and around the villages of Montreuil-sur-Mer (1892–94), Dieppe (1894–98), where he maintained a studio, Quimperle in Brittany (1901) and Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne (1903). The present work likely dates to this fertile period. From an elevated and downward-looking perspective, viewers are transported canal-side. Sharply foreshortened under a cobalt-and-cloud-filled sky, water gently eddies into the middleground of the composition. Flanked by trees and a series of barns and outbuildings on either side, the canal dominates the composition. Figures and a horse-drawn cart are all but enveloped by the landscape—an acknowledgement, perhaps, of the waterway’s importance to the life and livelihood of the village. Hallmarks of Thaulow’s mature style—staccato brushwork, mirror-like reflections, and an intuitive juxtaposition of light and shadow–recommend the scene.To request a condition report, or for any additional information, please email Raphael Chatroux at rchatroux@freemansauction.com.
Lot 66
Signed and dated 'J.E. Blanche/1904' bottom right, oil on canvas48 x 32 in. (121.9 x 81.3cm) ProvenanceThe Artist.Acquired directly from the above.McKean Family Collection, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.By descent in the McKean family.Exhibited"One Hundred and First Annual Exhibiton," Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, January 22-March 3, 1906, no. 767 (as Portrait of Nancy McKean).NoteThe present work is recorded (as Miss X) in the Online Jacques-Émile Blanche Catalogue Raisonné prepared by Dr. Jane Roberts under reference number RM 925.The relined canvas in overall very good condition. With a glossy finish and slight craquelure throughout (most due to age, others like at bottom right on the chair due to paint contractions) and the mark of a light middle stretcher bar impression running horizontally across the middle of the painting (through the sitter's dress). Examination under UV light reveals a thick layer of old glowing varnish, especially visible in the darker parts of the canvas (background). The figure presents well, which is likely indicative of a selective cleaning. No evidence of restoration could be spotted, except for a minor restored area above the sitter's right eyebrow (most likely a result of old scratching). See Specialist's additional images.To receive images, or any additional information, please email Raphael Chatroux at rchatroux@freemansauction.com.
Lot 74
Signed and dated 'G. Loiseau/1923' bottom right; also signed, titled and dated on label on stretcher verso, oil on canvas25 5/8 x 21 1/4 in. (65.1 x 54cm)Please note this Lot will be on view in New York City at the National Arts Club (15 Gramercy Pk S) the week of January 23. To make an appointment, please contact Raphael Chatroux at rchatroux@freemansauction.comProvenancePrivate Collection, California.NoteWe wish to thank Mr. Didier Imbert for confirming the authenticity of the present work. A Letter of Authenticity will accompany the Lot.Although Gustave Loiseau was born in Paris and earned a reputation for his lively depictions of the French capital city, his family was originally from Pontoise, a provincial town north of Paris made famous by Camille Pissarro’s early Impressionist paintings of the 1870s. Loiseau came late to painting, and first learned the butchery trade before shadowing a house decorator. He only fully embraced the career in 1887, after receiving a small allowance from his deceased grandmother. A year following the final Impressionist exhibition, he studied sculpture and design at the École des Arts Décoratifs, and in 1889, he spent six months in the studio of landscapist Fernand Quignon. At the latter’s suggestion, Loiseau went to visit the faraway Breton village of Pont-Aven and stayed at the famed pension Gloanec, where Gauguin had settled in the summer of 1886. Although Loiseau came back to Paris in the fall, he returned to Brittany every summer and painted many canvases there, including the present work – one of many views of the village’s Grand Place, where the market was traditionally set up in the morning. While his first biographers tried to link his work to that of Gauguin due to the Pont-Aven connection, Loiseau never saw Gauguin as a mentor (in fact they only met once in 1894), and the present work shows it: with its luminous palette, rich impasto and broken brushstrokes, the painting boasts all the hallmarks of the Impressionist movement. The quick dabs of paint which give motion to the scene, its overall abstract quality, paired with the slightly higher-up vantage point in fact strongly resemble the work of Camille Pissarro, whom Loiseau effectively revered, and whose work he studied at length during the artist’s memorial retrospective held at the Durand-Ruel Gallery in Paris in 1904.Executed in 1923, more than fifty years after the first Impressionist Exhibition, the present work denotes Loiseau’s faithfulness to the Impressionist principles throughout his life. It also confirms the strong market at the time for bold Impressionist canvases, which the famous dealer Paul Durand-Ruel promoted heavily, particularly since he signed a contract with Loiseau in 1897 and exhibited his paintings in his affiliated gallery in New York City, alongside works by Henri Moret and Maxime Maufra, long-life Pont-Aven friends.Frame: 35 x 30 x 3 in.The relined canvas presents well, with a nice impasto. Examination under UV light does not reveal any sign of inpainting. To receive images, or for any additional information, please email Raphael Chatroux at rchatroux@freemansauction.com.
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