An Important Collection of Photographs by Eugène and Adalbert Cuvelier

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Lot 27
  • 27

Adalbert Cuvelier 1812-1871

Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 USD
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Description

  • Adalbert Cuvelier
  • LANDSCAPE WITH RIVER AND VILLAGE, LIKELY ARRAS
salt print, initialed and dated by the photographer in the negative, mounted, matted, 1853

Provenance

The collection of John Chandler Bancroft, Middletown, Rhode Island

Gustave J. S. White Co., Auctioneers, Newport, Rhode Island, 1989

Acquired from the above by a New England antiques dealer

To the present owners, 1989

Catalogue Note

This is one of two photographs in the collection by Adalbert Cuvelier, Eugène's father -- the other is Lot 26.  In both photographs a river -- most likely the Scarpe or one of its ancillary canals -- bisects the landscape.  In the present image a village, possibly Arras, is visible in the distance on the left bank; on the heavily-treed right bank a portion of a wooden structure can be seen.  While the other image by Adalbert depicts artists sketching along a lush riverside, the present image is more minimal in its approach, with the essentially blank space of the river taking up a greater part of the photograph.  The composition is simpler; Adalbert has reduced the landscape to its essential elements: water, land, and sky.