Lot 40
  • 40

Camille Pissarro

Estimate
600,000 - 800,000 GBP
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Description

  • Camille Pissarro
  • Cheval blanc dans un pré, l’Hermitage, Pontoise
  • signed C. Pissarro and dated 1872  (lower left)
  • oil on canvas
  • 46.5 by 55cm.
  • 18 1/4 by 21 5/8 in.

Provenance

Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris (acquired from the artist on 12th November 1872)

Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York (acquired from the above circa 1963)

Mr & Mrs William S. Lasdon, New York (acquired from the above in 1964. Sold: Christie’s, London, 4th February 2002, lot 9)

Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Exhibited

Paris, Galerie Durand-Ruel, Tableaux, pastels et gouaches par Camille Pissarro, 1921, no. 16

Paris, Galerie Durand-Ruel, Exposition Camille Pissarro, 1956, no. 12

Bern, Kunstmuseum Bern, Camille Pissarro, 1957, no. 21, illustrated in the catalogue

New York, Wildenstein & Co., Camille Pissarro, 1965, no. 11, illustrated in the catalogue

Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1994-1999 (on loan)

Jerusalem, Israel Museum & New York, Jewish Museum, Camille Pissarro: Impressionist Innovator, 1994-95, no. 43, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art, Impressionism to the Present: Camille Pissarro and his Descendants, 2000, no. 17, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Literature

Ludovic-Rodolphe Pissarro & Lionello Venturi, Camille Pissarro, son art - son œuvre, Paris, 1939, vol. I, no. 164, catalogued p. 102; vol. II, no. 164, illustrated pl. 33

Charles Kunstler, Pissarro, villes et campagnes, Lausanne, 1967, no. 8, illustrated in colour p. 19

Charles Kunstler, Camille Pissarro, Milan, 1974, no. 4, illustrated in colour p. 21

Richard R. Brettell, Pissarro and Pontoise, The Painter in a Landscape, London, 1990, mentioned p. 158

Joachim Pissarro, Camille Pissarro, New York, 1993, no. 113, illustrated in colour p. 118

Joachim Pissarro & Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts, Pissarro, Critical Catalogue of Paintings, Milan, 2005, vol. II, no. 261, illustrated in colour p. 210 

Condition

The canvas is lined. There is no evidence of retouching visible under ultra-violet light. This work is in very good condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate in the printed catalogue illustration.
"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."

Catalogue Note

Pissarro's Pontoise landscapes from the early 1870s represent a milestone in the Impressionist movement that would have a lasting effect on both his contemporaries and subsequent generations. In the present work from 1872, Pissarro depicts a pastoral scene in L'Hermitage, a small hamlet in the Pontoise region. Claire Durand-Ruel Snoellaerts and Joachim Pissarro have identified the setting using the large white house in the centre of the composition. This building was located on the rue de la Côte-du-Jalet (now 58 rue Victor-Hugo) in Pontoise. Pissarro returned to this setting a few years later in 1874 when he painted Le Charpentier, paysage à l’Hermitage, Pontoise which is now in the Muzeul National de Artã al României in Bucharest (fig. 1). Both these paintings feature the ravine de Saint-Antoine and presented the village as a classic French landscape.

The significance of these early paintings by Pissarro is inextricably linked with a dialogue between the artist and Cézanne during the early 1870s. The two artists would often paint side by side in Pontoise and Auvers-sur-Oise during these years, drawing inspiration from the other (fig. 2). The exchange between these artists revealed the formal revolution inherent in the Impressionist movement and the influence this would have upon future generations. Joachim Pissarro writes of their mutual aim, ‘both artists wished to reach the same goal: harmony. What kind of harmony, then? “Art is harmony parallel to nature” is perhaps Cézanne's most famous statement. Only three weeks before the great Vollard retrospective of Cézanne's works, in 1895, and only a couple of years before this statement, Pissarro summed up what the Impressionist trajectory had been about: “Here is the true Impressionist way: nothing garish, but colours in harmony and value”. And Pissarro concluded that this is highly noticeable, because it's very rare’ (J. Pissarro, Cézanne & Pissarro: Pioneering Modernism (exhibition catalogue), The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2005, pp. 45-46).