Eugène Boudin

Estate of the artist (sold: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Vente Atelier Boudin, 20th & 21st March 1899, lot 109)
Galerie Schmit, Paris
Arthur Tooth & Sons, London
Acquired from the above by the father of the present owner in 1973

Robert Schmit, Eugène Boudin, Paris, 1973, vol. III, no. 3433, illustrated p. 312

The canvas is unlined. There are some small scattered spots and lines of retouching to the sky, some of which are at the framing edges, visible under ultra-violet light. Apart from a very faint vertical stretcher mark, this work is in good condition. Colours: In comparison with the printed catalogue illustration, the colours are overall stronger and brighter in the original.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Boudin made the first of his three trips to Venice in 1892, and produced a large number of paintings and drawings of its canals and surrounding buildings. In the summer of 1895 he returned to Venice for the last time with the landscapist Henri Harpignies and another fellow painter. Staying there for about two months, and fascinated by the quality of light, the water and the architecture of the city, he created a remarkable body of work characterised by a luminous palette and clear, precise brushwork that is rarely found in his French paintings. By the time he first travelled to Venice, he was already familiar with its scenery from the eighteenth-century views by Francesco Guardi, of which Boudin made copies during his visits to the Louvre in the 1860s.

 

Peter C. Sutton wrote of Boudin's Venetian paintings: 'these sparkling images of the ancient city and its monuments usually adopt a distant point of view in the tradition of Canaletto and Guardi, but are executed with a more animated touch that enlivens the sea and sky. Boudin's paintings of Venice apparently were well received; at the posthumous sale of the contents of his atelier in 1899, a Venetian painting fetched the highest price' (P. C. Sutton, Boudin, Impressionist Marine Paintings (exhibition catalogue), Peabody Museum of Salem, 1991, p. 78).

 

Although in many of his Venetian paintings Boudin shared the topographical concerns of Canaletto, depicting the city's buildings seen frontally, in the present work he shifted his focus to the Giudecca Canal, presenting a more Impressionistic view of the water and the sky, separated by the receding line of houses taking the viewer's eye into the depth of the composition. The artist paid careful attention to the depiction of the bright blue sky with scattered white clouds, and rendering the water in lively short brushstrokes with houses and boats reflecting on its surface.