Gustave Caillebotte

Private Collection, France

Marie Berhaut, Gustave Caillebotte, Catalogue raisonné des peintures et pastels, Paris, 1994, no. 262, illustrated p. 171

The canvas is not lined. The surface is clean with a rich and textured impasto. Close inspection reveals some minor frame abrasion along the extreme edges with associated spots of paint loss and a few tiny holes in the canvas in the four corners and along the left part of the upper edge. There is a minor network of stable hairline craquelure in the thickest areas of impasto: the white roof, the light blue pigment of the building and the pale pink pigment of the wall and pavement. UV light reveals one tiny spot of retouching in the light blue pigment of the sky between the foliage in the upper left corner. This work is in excellent condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Gustave Caillebotte is perhaps most famous for the richness and realism of his paintings. His amazing talent for rendering spatial perspective, combined with his use of color, resulted in some of the most extraordinary compositions of the Impressionist movement. Although Caillebotte devoted much of his production during the 1870s to depicting the architecture and boulevards of Paris, by the mid-1880s and throughout the 1890s he turned his attention to painting the grounds of his family home at Petit Gennevilliers and the surrounding area. At Petit Gennevilliers, located just across the Seine from Argenteuil, he created a magnificent garden and elaborate greenhouse where he cultivated exotic species of flora, including a variety of orchids. The inherent beauty of this landscape resulted in several lush and intimate depictions of his personal surroundings, found here in the canvas of Maisons à Argenteuil.

Fig. 1 Martial Caillebotte, photograph of Gustave Caillebotte seated at his drawing table, circa 1891, Private Collection