CHARLES FRANÇOIS DAUBIGNY | LA MAHOURA À CAUTRETS

The artist's studio (and sold, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, May, 6-8, 1878, lot 295)

Sale: Sotheby's, London, December 1, 1965, lot 138, illustrated (as La cascade de Mahoura, Cauterets)

Sale: Christie's, New York, October 13, 1994, lot 86, illustrated

Acquired at the above sale

Robert Hellebranth, Charles-François Daubigny 1817-1878, Morges, 1976, p. 183, no. 557, illustrated

Charles François Daubigny’s father and uncle were artists and he formed his interest in the family business at a young age. A sickly child, Daubigny’s parents sent him to the small village of Valandmois, where he stayed with family friends and fell in love with the countryside. While his art training was rather informal, his talent and family connections meant that by the age of 17 he was restoring paintings at the Musée du Louvre under the direction of François-Marius Granet. He travelled in Italy, Spain and England and spent time in the atelier of Paul Delaroche before finding success with a prize at the Salon of 1848. In 1852, he met Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, the beginning of a long friendship which saw the two artists travel together throughout France and Switzerland.

The landscapes Daubigny submitted to the Salons of the 1840s and 1850s reflect his fascination with water.  La Mahoura à Cautrets depicts an idyllic mountain stream in the spa town and ski resort of Cautrets in the Pyrénées of south-western France. The rushing water, marked by teal highlights, rocky landscape and verdant shades of green, provided a large-scale composition ideally suited to Daubigny’s spontaneous and broad, painterly brushstrokes. As Daubigny’s style further matured, he found commercial success while earning the respect of the artistic community, leading to his appointment to the Salon jury in 1865. It was in this position that he supported the acceptance of works by Camille Pissarro, Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley and Edgar Degas.