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, 21st June, 1993, lot 9
Sale: Christie's, New York, 11th May, 1994, lot 125
Galerie Schmit, Paris
Private Collection, United States (sale: Sotheby's, New York, 8th May, 2008, lot 144)
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

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, 1994, no. 21
Paris, Galerie Schmit, De Corot à de Staël: Maîtres français XIXème et XXème siècles, 1997, no. 33

Ludovic-Rodo Pissarro and Lionello Venturi, Camille Pissarro. Son Art - Son œuvre, Paris, 1939, vol. I, no. 269, catalogued p. 117; vol II, no. 269, illustrated pl. 53
Richard Shiff,  'The Work of Painting, Camille Pissarro and Symbolism', Apollo, 1992, pp. 307-310
Joachim Pissarro and Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts, Pissarro, Catalogue critique des peintures, vol. II, Paris, 2005, no. 374, illustrated p. 284

The canvas is lined. UV examination reveals a few spots and lines of retouching intermittently along all four edges (including the area where the work is dated), a few spots to the sky and a 5cm-long thin line of retouching to the right of the base of the tree trunk which corresponds to a repaired tear. There are a few lines of craquelure to the sky and the grass and a tiny spot of paint loss with some associated retouching towards the upper left corner. Otherwise this work is in overall good condition. Colours: fairly accurate in the printed catalogue, though overall slightly lighter 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."

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, p. 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 à 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, Piette passed away in 1876 at the age of fifty-one. But the time spent at Montfoucault would prove to be invaluable for his friend Camille Pissarro; it represented a physical and artistic escape.