Camille Pissarro

Durand-Ruel, Paris (acquired from the artist on March 30, 1900)

Wildenstein (acquired from the above in 1950)

Pamela Woolworth, New York (acquired from the above on June 16, 1955)

Private Collection, New York

Portland Gallery, London

Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1995

Paris, Galerie Durand-Ruel, C. Pissarro, 1901, no. 29

Paris, Galerie Durand-Ruel, Camille Pissarro, 1904, no. 117bis

Paris, Galerie Durand-Ruel, Pissarro, 1908, no. 5

Paris, Galerie Durand-Ruel, Tableaux et gouaches par Camille Pissarro, 1910, no. 28

Paris, Galerie Durand-Ruel, Tableaux par Camille Pissarro, 1928, no. 92

Houston, Castillian Room, Shamrock Hotel, Masterpieces of Painting through Six Centuries, 1952, no. 55

New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Collects: Paintings, Watercolors and Sculpture from Private Collections, 1968, no. 171

Janine Bailly-Herzberg, Correspondance de Camille Pissarro, vol. V, Saint-Ouen-l'Aumone, 1991, no. 1786, p. 149

Jules de Saint-Hilaire, 'L'exposition Pissarro', in Le Journal des Arts, January 26th, 1901, p. 1

J. C. Holl, 'Camille Pissarro et son œuvre', in L'Œuvre d'art internationale, October-November 1904, p. 16

J. C. Holl, 'Camille Pissarro', in Portraits d'hier, July 1911, pp. 53-54

Ludovic-Rodo Pissarro & Lionello Venturi, Camille Pissarro. Son art - son œuvre, vol. I, Paris, 1939, no. 1124, catalogued p. 237; vol. II, no. 1124, illustrated pl. 223

Charles Kunstler, Camille Pissarro, Milan, 1974, illustrated p. 80

Joachim Pissarro & Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts, Pissarro. Catalogue critique des peintures, vol. III, Paris, 2005, no. 1305, illustrated in color p. 807

Very good condition. The canvas bears an old supportive lining, but the surface texture and rich impasto are intact. Under ultra-violet light, there are minimal spots of retouching in the sky, mainly near the horizontal framing edge. There is one tiny paint loss covered by the lower horizontal framing edge that runs diagonally over the "9" of the date. Otherwise, the surface is stable and in very 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.
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 is a vigorous depiction of the Jardin des Tuileries covered in snow, as seen from the apartment Pissarro was renting while staying in Paris.  During his previous visit to the capital, the artist wrote in a letter to his son Lucien in December 1898: "We have engaged an apartment at 204 rue de Rivoli, facing the Tuileries, with a superb view of the Garden, the Louvre to the left, in the background the houses on the quais behind the trees, to the right the Dôme des Invalides, the steeples of Ste. Clothilde behind the solid mass of chestnut trees.  It is very beautiful.  I shall paint a fine series" (C. Pissarro, quoted in Pissarro (exhibition catalogue), Hayward Gallery, London, 1980, p. 146).

 

Pleased with his stay at rue de Rivoli, Pissarro returned to Paris and took the same apartment from November 1899 until May 1900.  During this stay in the capital the artist painted a series of fourteen oils showing the Tuileries Gardens and the Louvre from the window of his residence.  Nine of these works, including the present canvas, were bought by Durand-Ruel on March 30, 1900.  Pissarro evidently took joy in depicting the scene throughout the changing seasons, and the present work is one of only two oils from this series showing the garden covered in snow, the composition bathed in the steely blue tones of a winter day.