- 118
Berthe Morisot
Estimate
100,000 - 150,000 USD
bidding is closed
Description
- ROSBRAS (FINISTÈRE) or RIVIÈRE DE PONT-AVEN À ROSBRAS
Signed B. Morisot (lower left)
- Oil on canvas
- 21 5/8 by 28 3/4 in.
- 55 by 73 cm
Provenance
Octave Thomas, Paris
Private Collection
Private Collection
Exhibited
Paris, Ministère de la Maison de l'Empereur et des Beaux-Arts, Salon, 1867
Paris, Ministère de la Maison de l'Empereur et des Beaux-Arts, Salon, 1868, no. 1819
Paris, Musée de l'Orangerie, Berthe Morisot, 1941, no. 5
Albi, Musée Toulouse-Lautrec, Exposition Berthe Morisot, Peintures, Aquarelles, Dessins, 1958, no. 2
New York, Wildenstein & Co., Loan Exhibition of Paintings, Berthe Morisot, 1960, no. 3
Paris, Musée Jacquemart-André, Berthe Morisot, 1961, no. 3
London, Wildenstein & Co., Ltd., Loan Exhibition of Paintings, Berthe Morisot, 1961, no. 3
Literature
Monique Angoulvent, "Berthe Morisot", L'amour de l'Art, February 1934, no. 16
Marie-Louise Bataille and Georges Wildenstein, Berthe Morisot, Catalogue des peintures, pastels et aquarelles, Paris, 1961, no. 12, illustrated pl. 5 (titled Rivière de Pont-Aven à Rosbras and as dating from 1866)
Judy and Charles-Guy Le Paul, L'Impressionisme dans l'École de Pont-Aven, Lausanne and Paris, 1983, illustrated p. 15
Charles F. Stuckey and William P. Scott, Berthe Morisot Impressionist, New York, 1987, fig. 12, illustrated p. 25
Alain Clairet, Delphine Montalant, Yves Rouart, Berthe Morisot, 1841-1895, Catalogue Raisonné de l'Oeuvre Peint, Montolivet, France, 1997, no. 12, illustrated p. 117
Marie-Louise Bataille and Georges Wildenstein, Berthe Morisot, Catalogue des peintures, pastels et aquarelles, Paris, 1961, no. 12, illustrated pl. 5 (titled Rivière de Pont-Aven à Rosbras and as dating from 1866)
Judy and Charles-Guy Le Paul, L'Impressionisme dans l'École de Pont-Aven, Lausanne and Paris, 1983, illustrated p. 15
Charles F. Stuckey and William P. Scott, Berthe Morisot Impressionist, New York, 1987, fig. 12, illustrated p. 25
Alain Clairet, Delphine Montalant, Yves Rouart, Berthe Morisot, 1841-1895, Catalogue Raisonné de l'Oeuvre Peint, Montolivet, France, 1997, no. 12, illustrated p. 117
Catalogue Note
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot wrote a letter to Berthe Morisot in 1857 whereby he summed up his ideas about art, "Beauty in art is truth steeped in the impression made upon us by the sight of nature. I am struck on seeing some place or other. While seeking conscious imitation I do not for an instant lose the emotion that first gripped me. Reality forms part of art, feeling completes it" (Kathleen Adler and Tamar Garb, Berthe Morisot, New York, 1987, p. 16).
Corot's influence on Morisot's works of the 1860s is evident by the subtle yet clear palette, with its use of greens and grays and the mood of melancholy invoked by capturing an ephemeral moment of time (see fig. 1). Rather than shaping images of volumes and space with sharp color contrasts or dramatic light and dark effects, Morisot was able to elicit an impression of solidity by using a narrow range of hues and tones as illustrated by the realist paintings of the Barbizon school.
During the summer of 1866 Edma and Berthe Morisot spent time in Brittany visiting Quimperlé, Rosbras and Pont-Aven where Berthe painted the present work. Charles Stuckey, however, has theorized that their one and only trip to Brittany did not take place until the following year, and places Rivière de Pont-Aven à Rosbras at this later date (Charles Stuckey, Catalogue de l'exposition de Berthe Morisot, Washington, 1987, p. 23).
Fig. 1 Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, L'église de Marissel, près Beauvais, 1866, oil on canvas, Musée du Louvre, Paris
Corot's influence on Morisot's works of the 1860s is evident by the subtle yet clear palette, with its use of greens and grays and the mood of melancholy invoked by capturing an ephemeral moment of time (see fig. 1). Rather than shaping images of volumes and space with sharp color contrasts or dramatic light and dark effects, Morisot was able to elicit an impression of solidity by using a narrow range of hues and tones as illustrated by the realist paintings of the Barbizon school.
During the summer of 1866 Edma and Berthe Morisot spent time in Brittany visiting Quimperlé, Rosbras and Pont-Aven where Berthe painted the present work. Charles Stuckey, however, has theorized that their one and only trip to Brittany did not take place until the following year, and places Rivière de Pont-Aven à Rosbras at this later date (Charles Stuckey, Catalogue de l'exposition de Berthe Morisot, Washington, 1987, p. 23).
Fig. 1 Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, L'église de Marissel, près Beauvais, 1866, oil on canvas, Musée du Louvre, Paris