EMILIO SÁNCHEZ PERRIER | Environs de Tanger

Chaine & Simonson, Paris 
Knoedler & Co., New York, no. 5951 (acquired from the above, November 1887)
J.J. Gillespie & Co., Pittsburgh (acquired from the above, May 1891) 
Acquired from the above through the Prendergast Bequest, 1891

Descriptive Catalogue of the Art Gallery of the James Prendergast Library Association, Jamestown, New York, 1906, no. 46 (as Near Tangiers) 
Katherine E. Manthorne, The Mirror Up to Nature: A Catalogue of 19^th and 20^th Century Paintings in the Collection of The James Prendergast Library Association, Jamestown, New York, 1982, p. 45 (as Near Tangiers) 

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This work has been restored and could be hung in its current condition. The canvas on which it is painted has been mounted onto a piece of plywood. The paint layer is stable and the work can certainly be hung as is. The painting is clean and varnished. Under ultraviolet light, one can see a spot of retouching in the dark reflection in the water in the lower right and a couple of dots to the right of the figure, but there otherwise do not appear to be any other retouches.
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.

After finding success in his native Andalusia, Emilio Sánchez Perrier moved to Paris in 1879 and joined the ateliers of Jean-Léon Gérôme and Félix Ziem. The synthesis of Gérôme's traditional academic training and Ziem's expressive, naturalistic and somewhat Impressionistic approach is evident in Sánchez Perrier’s exquisitely rendered landscapes.

After Delacroix visited Algiers and Tangiers in 1832, Northern Africa became a destination for artists. Sánchez Perrier’s fellow countryman, Marià Fortuny y Marsal, was in Morocco by the mid-1860s, and Rudolph Ernst, Edwin Lord Weeks and John Singer Sargent were all painting in Tangiers by the 1880s. By the time the present work was painted in 1887, Sánchez Perrier was well established as an artist in Paris, and that he would travel to Northern Africa after his time in these ateliers is not surprising, and the lure of Morocco was strong.  While the exact location of this work is not recorded or known, the topography and vegetation are related to paintings of the Rivière des Juifs, an area to the northwest of the Ancient Medina, which Sánchez Perrier also painted during this 1887 trip. The proximity of this rural area to the bustle of the ancient city was clearly a draw to many; in fact, the American artist Willard Leroy Metcalf painted the same river in 1887, attesting to the popularity of such idyllic yet intriguingly foreign landscapes.



We would like to thank Juan Fernández Lacomba for kindly confirming the authenticity of this lot.