Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes

With Hall & Knight, New York, 2000;
From whom acquired by the present collector.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting has been restored, although perhaps not recently. The canvas has a lining applied with a non-wax adhesive, which is nicely stabilizing the paint layer. The canvas has an original join running vertically down the left side through the aqueduct. There are a few retouches to this original join, but the sky is generally in very healthy state. There is slight thinness in the clouds, particularly in the upper center. The artist's brushy technique in the landscape has also developed slight thinness, which has received retouches that are very slightly discolored and visible to the naked eye. There are isolated areas of retouching that have been carefully applied throughout most of the landscape, with the bulk of the weakness in the darkest colors in the rocks on the left and in the foreground. Even so, the condition is extremely presentable. One could re-examine the restoration, but the picture could also be hung as is.
"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."

This beautiful large landscape is an outstanding example of the paysage historique, a genre in which Valenciennes became the pioneer, leading the way for the next generation of painters such as Jean-Victor Bertin, Pierre-Athanase Chauvin and Achille Etna Michallon. Born in Toulouse, Valenciennes made his first trip to Italy in 1769 at the age of nineteen, accompanying Mathias Dubourg, a member of parliament in Toulouse. After returning to France he settled in Paris where he met the ducs de Choiseul through Dubourg's brother Philippe, and entered the studio of the painter Gabriel-François Doyen. In 1777 Valenciennes returned to Italy, reaching Rome in October of that year, and remained there until 1784-85. During his Italian sojourn Valenciennes also travelled outside of Rome: in 1779 he visited Naples, Stromboli, Sicily, Pompeii and Paestum, clearly drawn to the antique ruins in the latter. He produced numerous plein-air sketches of Rome and the surrounding Campagna, many of which he kept in his studio for inspiration and for didactic purposes. In the posthumous sale of Valenciennes' studio contents, on April 26, 1819, hundreds of drawings and sketches are listed: lot 15 "...quantité de Livres de Croquis, Recueils de Dessins au trait et à la sépia, représentant des Vues de Rome, faites d'après nature," each one annotated by Valenciennes with the location and date; and lot 7 "...environ 120 esquisses peintes à l'huile faites d'après nature à Rome".¹  These esquisses were an intrinsic part of Valenciennes' working method, as laid out in his Eléments de perspective pratique (published in 1800), in which he encouraged students to paint oil sketches. He advised them not to spend any longer than two hours on each sketch - and only half an hour if painting at sunset or sunrise - to be sure to 'capture the moment' ('pour saisir la nature sur le fait'). He also encouraged painting the same site at different times of day to observe the changes nature undergoes. Valenciennes assumed the role of professeur de perspective, teaching at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, in 1812.

1. Of these, 129 drawings, 9 albums of sketches and 134 painted studies were gifted to the Louvre in 1930; see A. Ottani Cavina, in Paysages d'Italie. Les peintres du plein air (1780-1830), exhibition catalogue, Paris, Grand Palais, April 3 - July 9, 2001, p. 112.