Jean-François Raffaëlli

Collection B. de N… (by 1909)
Private Collector (acquired in circa 1955)
Thence by descent to the present owner (great-grandson of the above)

Arsène Alexandre, Jean-François Raffaëlli peintre, graveur, sculpteur, Paris, 1909, illustrated p. 21

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This work seems to be completely unrestored and undamaged. The canvas is unlined and has never been removed from its original stretcher. The paint layer is stable, although very slightly cracked in the upper right. Some tack holes are beginning to develop instability along the top edge. There is a small loss above the statue on the top of the building on the left, and a few tiny losses in the extreme left edge in the sky. The painting is extremely dirty and will clean very well. There is no reason to line the picture, but some relaxation of the canvas and consolidation of the paint layer may be appropriate. Practically no retouches would be required when the work is restored.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

In 1879, Raffaëlli left Paris to live in the suburb of Asnières where he focused almost exclusively on its inhabitants - the workers, the beggars and the petit bourgeois – as subjects for his paintings. He returned to Paris in 1892 and for the remainder of his career found success painting urban street scenes in Paris and other French cities.

Fillettes devant Saint Germain l’Auxerrois was most likely painted in the 1890s.  At this stage of his career, Raffaëlli was working in a more “impressionistic” style; his brushwork is looser, his palette has brightened and the surfaces of his pictures have a more painterly quality than his earlier works. While Degas was an early influence on the artist, it is now apparent that Raffaëlli is more akin to the subject and style of artists such as Camille Pissarro or Claude Monet.  In fact, Monet painted the same subject of the bustling tree-lined square in front of Saint Germain l’Auxerrois in 1867. While the church itself was a prominent part of Monet’s painting, Raffaëlli’s focus is more on the Parisians who populate the square and especially on the troop of young school girls (the church itself is partially hidden behind the trees).  This emphasis on people, as opposed to recording a historic site, recalls Raffaëlli’s earlier works, and especially his interest in documenting “les types de Paris.”