Ladislaus Bakalowicz

Private Collection, France

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This painting has been recently restored. The canvas has been lined. The paint layer has been cleaned and varnished. Although the frame requires a gilded finish, the picture itself is in beautiful condition. Under ultraviolet light there are only a few spots of restoration visible, one in front of the greyhound in the lower center and above that same dog's head in the paper around the potted plant. Elsewhere there appear to be no structural damages or restorations and clearly the condition is unusually good.
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La place de la Madeleine is named after the nineteenth century neoclassical church at the  center of Paris; since its consecration in 1845, its monumental staircase has afforded one of the city's most famous panoramas. While today La place de la Madeleine is most notable for its gourmet food shops, its famous flower market has attracted crowds since its establishment in 1832. One such flower stall, set below the massive Corinthian columns of the Madeleine, is depicted in Bakalowicz's present work. Shelves full of various arranged bouquets and groups of vibrant potted plants draw the attention of fashionably dressed shoppers. Bakalowicz sets the scene in a low, long horizontal composition, allowing a series of vignettes to play out among the bloom: a couple's quiet courtship at the left, the aggressive hand of a bargaining flower seller at center, and a smoking street urchin at the right.  The present work has a kinship with the historical and literary paintings that first brought fame to Bakalowicz after his 1863 debut at the Paris Salon.  Just as Bakalowicz had described each detail of sixteenth century lavish royal dress and the intricate social graces of courtly life with works like Henri III, His Favorites, and Bussy D'Ambrose Attending the Wedding of Saint Luc (sold in these rooms November 3, 1999, lot 90), A Flower Market at La Madeleine, Paris reveals the social norms of Paris via contemporary fashion and subtle gestures. The particular popularity of A Flower Market is suggested by its printing plate (to be sold with the painting, see fig 1.), its well-used surface alluding to numerous pressings, which helped widely distribute the image to collectors and readers of magazines and newspapers.