Johan Barthold Jongkind

Sale: Galeries Georges Petit, Paris, 1921, lot 80 (as L'Omnibus, entrée du Faubourg-Saint-Jacques)
Ferdinand & Julien Tempelaere, Paris
Christian Otto Zieseniss (acquired before 1929)

Paris, Galerie Tempelaere, Jongkind, 1911
Paris, Galeries Georges Petit, 1921, no. 80
The Hague, Pulchri Studio & Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, Nederland-Frankrijk Tentoonstelling Jongkind, 1930, no. 56 (titled L'Omnibus, Faubourg-Saint-Jacques)
Paris, Galerie Raphaël Gérard, Quelques oeuvres choisies du XIXe et du XXe siècle, 1939, no. 30
New York, World’s Fair (Pavillon de la France), Five Centuries of French History Illustrated by Five Centuries of French Art, 1939-40, no. 366 (titled L'Omnibus, Faubourg-Saint-Jacques)

Claude Roger-Marx, Jongkind, Paris, 1932, no. 20 (titled L'Omnibus au Faubourg-Saint-Jacques)
George Besson, Johan Barthold Jongkind, Paris, 1949, no. 24 (titled L'Omnibus au Faubourg-Saint-Jacques)
Adolphe Stein, Sylvie Brame, François Lorenceau & Janine Sinizergues, Jongkind, Catalogue critique de l’oeuvre, Paris, 2003, no. 719, illustrated p. 274 (titled L’Omnibus du Faubourg Saint Jacques)

This canvas is in healthy condition although it could benefit from a cleaning. There is faint alligatoring in the sky, restorations to which fluoresce under UV.
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.

The present work was painted in 1874, the year which marked the opening of the first Impressionist exhibition in the photographer Nadar’s Paris studio. It is unclear why Jongkind  was not invited to  participate in the exhibition, particularly considering his close relationship with other painters of the movement. Indeed, the artist’s landscapes of Holland and rural France of the 1860s (see lots 357, 359, 360), which melded compositional traditions of seventeenth-century Dutch painting with an interest in conveying depth, a loose handling of paint, and innovative use of light, were credited as an influential precursor of the Impressionist school by Manet, Pissarro, Boudin and Monet (Charles C. Cunningham, Jongkind and the Pre-Impressionists, Painters of the School of the Paris, 1976, p. 7). As Monet recalled, his friend Jongkind “asked to see my sketches, invited me to come and work with him, and explained to me why and the wherefore of his manner and thereby completed my teaching… From that time, he was my real master; it was to him that I owe the final education of my eye" (as quoted in John Rewald, The History of Impressionism, New York, 1973, pp. 69-70). At the same time as Jongkind was painting L’Omnibus de la glacière, Monet was working on his celebrated Boulevard des Capucines (The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City) and beginning his series of carriage and railway bridges over the Seine. Jongkind’s own urban view, with the same focus on public transportation, records the intersection of rue du Faubourg St. Jacques and the Boulevard St. Jacques (the bell tower of Saint Joseph de Cluny visible in the distance) while his lively brush captures the rushed movement of women hoping to catch the departing omnibus (a double-decker horse-drawn carriage). The specificity and modernity of the scene are enhanced by the artist’s carefully observed details including the omnibus’ yellow shade, signifying it is the “ligne J” connecting the place Pigalle (in Montmartre where his dealer Tempelaere had his gallery) to La Glacière (Montparnasse). The “ligne J” ran past 5, rue de Chevreuse where the artist lived from 1861 until his death, and his familiarity with the bustle of the locale inspired several variations of the present work.