Claude Monet

Jacques Charles, Paris (circa 1918)

Sale: Hôtel Drouot, November 30, 1942, lot 98

Pierre Colle, Paris (acquired at the above sale)

Sale: Maître Binoche, Paris, June 12, 2002, lot 35

Noortman Master Paintings, Maastricht

Acquired from the above

René Gimpel, Journal d'un collectionneur, Marchand de Tableaux,  Paris, 1963, discussed pp. 87 & 89
 
John Rewald, The History of Impressionism, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1973, illustrated p. 180
 
Daniel Wildenstein, Claude Monet: Biographie et catalogue raisonné, vol. I, Lausanne, 1974, no. 35, illustrated p. 135 
 
Victorine Hefting, J.B. Jongkind: voorloper van het Impressionisme, Amsterdam, 1992, p. 99
 
Daniel Wildenstein, Monet, Catalogue raisonné, vol. II, Cologne, 1996,  no. 35, illustrated p. 22

The canvas has been lined. Under ultra-violet light, there are two areas of careful restoration, addressing intentional damage by the artist, who was trying to discourage the painting’s confiscation by his debt collectors: a 2-inch section from the roof of the doorway and up to the trees above it; 1-inch section in the tree trunks, water and bank of the river at the lower center. There is also a small area of retouching in the sky, just above the steeple. On the reverse, the lining has been cut in two areas for purposes of stabilization, and the surface of the canvas is thus perfectly supported.
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.

Monet painted La Chapelle de Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Honfleur at the dawning of his career in 1864, while he spent the summer working in the Norman village of Honfleur.  In the company of his mentor Johan Barthold Jongkind, Monet set up his easel outside the 17th century church of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and painted this detailed view of its façade.  It is believed that the two artists were working side-by-side at this point, as Jongkind executed a watercolor of a similar view of the church that September.  While it bears many of the structural qualities of an academic landscape, Monet's painting, in its freedom of brushwork and use of light and shadow, offers a glimmer of events to come in the next decade with the official debut of the Impressionists in 1874.

According to Daniel Wildenstein, an insolvent, young Monet was forced to turn over this painting to state debt collectors in 1865-66.  The next time that the artist saw his composition was nearly half a century later, when Georges Bernheim brought it to him at Giverny in 1918.  "Une oeuvre de ma jeunesse," Monet smiled when he saw it (quoted in R. Gimpel, Journal d'un collectionneur, Paris, 1963, p. 87).