Camille Pissarro

M. de Mollins, Lausanne, Switzerland
Durand-Ruel, Paris
Earl of Jersey, United Kingdom
Arthur Tooth & Sons, London
Captain Richard A. Peto, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom
Norbert Nusser, Munich
Sale: Christie's, London, June 21, 1993, lot 9
Sale: Christie's, New York, May 11, 1994, lot 125
Galerie Schmit, Paris
Private collection, United States

Paris, Troisième Exposition de peinture, 1877, no. 182
Paris, Galerie Durand-Ruel, Tableaux, pastels et gouaches par Camille Pissarro, 1921, no. 14
Paris, Galerie Durand-Ruel, Tableaux par Camille Pissarro, 1928, no. 18
London, Arts Council, French Paintings: A Second Selection from Mr. Peto's Collection, 1951, no. 20
London, Marlborough Fine Art, Camille Pissarro and Alfred Sisley, 1955, no. 6
Plymouth, City Art Gallery, French Impressionist and English Paintings and Sculpture from the Peto Collection, 1960, no. 63
Paris, Le Carrousel du Louvre, XVII Biennale des antiquaires, Galerie Schmit, 1994, no. 21
Paris, Galerie Schmit, De Corot à de Staël: maîtres français XIXéme et XXéme siècles, 1997, no. 33

Ludovic-Rodo Pissarro and Lionello Venturi, Camille Pissarro. Son Art - Son oeuvre, Paris, 1939, no. 374, illustrated p. 284
Richard Shiff,  "The Work of Painting, Camille Pissarro and Symbolism," Apollo, 1992, pp. 307-310
Joachim Pissarro and Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts, Pissarro, Critical Catalogue of Paintings, vol. II, Paris, 2005, no. 374, illustrated p. 284

Canvas is lined. Surface is richly textured and impasto is well-preserved. Nail-head size brown stain on surface 4 inches from bottom edge right of center. There are some losses to pigment at bottom right below signature which have been subsequently filled in. Under UV light, there is a 1-inch long stroke of inpainting near center of top edge, and several dots of inpainting at upper right and upper left corner. Two 1-inch strokes at center of left edge, all to address frame abrasion. Also 1-inch line and nail-head size dot of inpainting center of top right quadrant. Otherwise, good condition.
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.

In August of 1871, good friend and fellow artist Ludovic Piette-Montfoucault wrote to Pissarro, "Do not think that the pleasure I would have if you stay with us makes me so oblivious to your interests as to try to influence you to leave Paris...I even think that you feel the pulse of life in Paris far more than here, where a benumbing and hopeless languor paralyzes you"(Joachim Pissarro, Camille Pissarro, New York, 1983, pg. 138).  Piette composed this convincing missive from his home in Montfoucault, a small hamlet of only fifty inhabitants, located in Northern France.  Here Piette lived in relative isolation on a large estate, miles from the nearest town. Urging Pissarro to leave behind his "interests" and pressures, to embrace the "languor" of country life, Piette beckoned his good friend to escape the Parisian art world and the constant throb of city life. Shortly after, Pissarro and his family departed on the two-day journey for Montfoucault.  They remained there for the next twelve months.

Pissarro welcomed this change of locale; from 1874 to 1875, Montfoucault's landscapes and peoples served as the focus of a series of oil works. The tranquil days spent far from modern demands inspired paintings that sought to capture the rigors of country life as well as its rustic, remote beauty. Surrounded by calm and enveloped by pleasant companionship, Pissarro thrived artistically.

La Maison de Piette a Montfoucault depicts the home of Pissarro's kind friend Piette, who generously offered his farm as a place of sanctuary. An overwhelming sense of quiet and stillness radiates from the canvas. Clouds cease to drift across the sky. The horizon itself is blocked by dense foliage, severing us from the rest of the world. The house emerges, in pieces, from behind this natural curtain of greens, yellows, and browns. A lone figure is fixed, his back to us, as though frozen in his advancement. Pissarro isolates the house; no road approaches the home and no path leads us deeper into the countryside. We too have become peacefully isolated, removed from the everyday strains of existence.

Ultimately, Pissarro and his family relocated to London, and Piette, quite ill, passed away in 1876 at the age of fifty-one. The time spent at Montfoucault would prove to be invaluable for the artist; it represented a physical and artistic escape.