Georges Seurat

(probably) Madeleine Knoblock, Paris (by descent from the artist in 1891)
Mme Camille Platteel, Brussels & Paris
Félix Fénéon, Paris (acquired by 1908. Sold: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Collection Félix Fénéon, 30th May 1947, lot 106)
P. Metthey (purchased at the above sale)
Roger Gros, Paris (acquired in 1947 and until at least 1973)
Marc Blondeau, Paris
Acquired from the above by the present owner circa 1990

Paris, Galerie Laffitte (Léonce Moline), Exposition de quelques peintures, aquarelles, dessins et eaux-fortes de Ch. Agard, Eug. Delâtre, J.-H. Lebasque, feu Georges Seurat, 1895
Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Exposition Georges Seurat, 1908-09, no. 62
Paris, Galerie Charpentier, Chefs-d'œuvre de collections françaises, 1962
Paris, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Seurat, 1991, no. 167, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
New York, The Museum of Modern Art, Georges Seurat: The Drawings, 2007-08, no. 120, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Henri Dorra & John Rewald, Seurat, l'œuvre peint. Biographie et catalogue critique, Paris, 1959, no. 167, illustrated p. 198
César M. de Hauke, Seurat et son œuvre, Paris, 1961, vol. I, no. 172, illustrated p. 127
André Chastel & Fiorella Minervino, Tout l'œuvre peint de Seurat, Paris, 1973, no. 173, illustrated p. 104
Michael F. Zimmermann, Seurat and the Art Theory of his Time, Antwerp, 1991, no. 556, illustrated p. 414
Robert L. Herbert et al., Seurat (exhibition catalogue), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1991-92, no. 168, illustrated in colour p. 251

The panel is stable. Apart from two small spots of retouching, one at the centre of the top edge and one at the centre of the lower edge, visible under ultra-violet light, this work is in good condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate in the printed catalogue illustration, although stronger and more vibrant in the original.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Following in the footsteps of Eugène Boudin and Claude Monet, who depicted this lighthouse twenty years earlier, Georges Seurat set up his easel in the flourishing port of Honfleur in the summer of 1886. The leading Neo-Impressionist had just finished his masterwork Un Dimanche après-midi à l'Ile de la Grande Jatte, and stayed on the Normandy coast from mid-June to mid-August. While there, Seurat began seven paintings, finishing some in Paris the following autumn, as well as two known Conté crayon sketches and a few oil studies from nature. The panel L'Hospice et le phare de Honfleur is a study for the major painting of the same title, now in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (fig. 1). Both the final painting and the oil panel were presented together for the first time at the major Seurat retrospective exhibition at the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune from December 1908 to January 1909.

 

If the landscapes made in Honfleur show a certain evolution in Seurat's painting style and method – his dots transforming progressively into elongated, more obvious brushstrokes with passages of closer hues – his research with oil studies paved the way for the subsequent changes in his painting. New research on Seurat's techniques was conducted in preparation for the 2007 exhibition Seurat: The Drawings at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Senior conservator Karl Buchberg, analysing the panel L'Hospice et le phare de Honfleur, noted that 'Seurat scored one side of this wood panel to create numerous vertical striations that run perpendicular to the natural wood grain. The reverse of the panel retains its original smooth surface. Seurat further exploited this texture by allowing small strokes of paints to skip over this reticulated surface, highlighting the texture rather than obscuring it.'

Vérane Tasseau

Fig. 1, Georges Seurat, L'Hospice et le phare de Honfleur, 1886, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.