. Camille Pissarro

Estate of the artist
Julie Pissarro, France (the artist's wife)
Georges Manzana Pissarro, France (the artist's son)
Jonas Netter, Paris

Joachim Pissarro & Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts, Pissarro, Catalogue critique des peintures, Milan, 2005, vol. III, no. 1270, illustrated p. 789 

The canvas is not lined. There are several pinhead-sized spots of retouching throughout the top left quadrant and several pinhead-sized spots of retouching to the lower centre below the roof of the house, visible under ultra-violet light. Apart from a 2cm. square area of fluorescence to the lower left corner, this work is in good 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.
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FIG.I, An outhouse in the artist's residence in Eragny
comp image ID: 216D06005 (already on the London server)

In 1884 Pissarro settled in the village of Eragny-sur-Epte in Normandy, where he was to remain until his death in 1903.  Eragny was a traditional rural area with little of the modernized farming and none of the industrial imagery so evident around Pontoise.  It was also further from Paris.  "Since the house at Osny was too small for his growing family and he could not find a home in Pontoise at a reasonable price, Pissarro began early in 1884 to 'scour the country' for a place to live that offered interesting motifs... in the little village of Eragny, on the banks of the Epte river, the family found what they had been seeking: a countryside familiar enough to provide Pissarro with his favourite themes yet different enough to offer fresh stimulation'"(R. E. Shikes & P. Harper, Pissarro, His Life and Work, London, 1980, pp. 195 & 196).

In March 1884 Pissarro wrote to his son Lucien: "Yes, we have decided for Eragny on the Epte (near Gisors).  The house is wonderful... with garden and fields.  It is about two hours from Paris.  I have found the country much more beautiful than Compiègne... But here comes the spring, the fields are green, outlines are delicate in the distance"(J. Rewald, Camille Pissarro, Letters to his son Lucien, London, 1980, p. 58).

At Eragny, Pissarro experimented with Neo-Impressionism and Pointillism before loosening his style to paint with greater freedom during the 1890s.  This stylistic development coincided with the critical and commercial success of the artist's first major retrospective, held at the Galerie Durand-Ruel in January 1892.  In 1899-1900 Pissarro painted a series of works of his jardin potager, or orchard garden.  In the present work the garden space is one of contemplation, the peaceful greens and warm brick-red tones consolidating the sense of harmony.  The blue sky and scudding clouds give an impression of the freshness of the day and the artist's contentment.  As Octave Mirabeau wrote: "The eye of the artist, like the mind of the thinker, discovers the larger aspect of things, their wholeness and unity... To describe the drama of the earth and to move our hearts, M. Pissarro does not need violent gestures, complicated arabesques and sinister branches against livid skies... An orchard, with its apple trees in rows, its brick houses in the background and some women under the trees, bending and gathering the apples which have fallen to the ground, and the totality of life is evoked'"(quoted in Shikes & Harper, op. cit., p. 261).