Jean-Baptiste-Armand Guillaumin

Hazard Collection, Paris
Sale: Maîtres Lombrail & Teucquam, La Varenne Saint-Hilaire, November 21, 2003, lot 115
Private Collection, Switzerland (and sold: Sotheby's, London, June 20, 2007, lot 425)
Acquired at the above sale

This work is in very good condition.The canvas is not lined. Under UV light: There are two 1/2 inch sq. areas of intermittent spots of retouching to the top left and right corners, and to the bottom left corner. There is a slightly uneven varnish, causing some areas to fluoresce under UV. Otherwise, fine.
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.

Guillaumin was a founding member of the Impressionist movement as well as its longest-surviving proponent. He studied alongside Cézanne and met Pissarro at the Académie Suisse in 1866; he would work alongside them painting en plein air in Pontoise and Auvers-sur-Oise and would later exhibit with them at the First Impressionist Exhibition in 1874. His rich paintings of the bucolic French landscape as well as the bustling Paris cityscape gained him much praise and many great accolades throughout his career, and they proved to be of particular interest to Gauguin as well as Theo and Vincent van Gogh.

In 1889, around the time the present work was painted in the artist's characteristic and increasingly bold coloration and brushwork, Vincent van Gogh wrote of Guillaumin's landscapes in a letter to his sister: "You must feel the whole of a country—isn't that what distinguishes a Cézanne from anything else? And Guillaumin, whom you cite, he has so much style and such a personal manner of drawing. What you say of Guillaumin is very true, he has found one true thing and contents himself with what he has found, without going off at random after divergent things, and in that way he will keep straight, and become stronger..." (quoted in Christopher Gray, Armand Guillaumin, Chester, Connecticut, 1972, p. 41).