Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg, R.A.

Anonymous sale, London, Phillips, 13 March 1806, lot 86;
Possibly anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 29 April 1809, lot 58 (as A View in the South of France - highly finished);
There acquired by Mortimer;
Possibly anonymous sale, London, Phillips, 1 February 1810, lot 160 (as A View in the South of France, touched with a spirit of delicacy of pencil not inferior to Wouwermans);
Henry F. Bodicote;
By whom sold, London, Christie's, 19 April 1828, lot 113;
There acquired by Michael Peacock;
With Arthur Tooth, London, by 1960;
With Galerie Cailleux, Paris;
St. Anthony Club, New York;
By whom sold, New York, Sotheby's, 2 December 1976, lot 138;
There acquired by Dr. Glenn T. Scott;
Anonymous sale ("The Property of a Lady"), New York, Christie's, 31 January 1997, lot 118;
With Richard Feigen, New York;
From whom acquired by the late collector.

London, Royal Academy, 1783, no. 87 (as The evening of the summer's day in the south of France).

The Public Advertiser, 16 May 1783;
"The Painter's Mirror, no. VI" in unknown journal, 1783 (Press Cuttings de la Royal Academy Library and Archives, vol. I, fol. 86);
"Account of the Exhibition of Paintings," in unknown journal, 20 April 1783 (Press Cuttings de la Royal Academy Library and Archives, vol. I, fol. 93);
O. Lefeuvre, Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg 1740-1812, Paris 2012, pp. 250-251, cat. no. 158, reproduced.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This work has not been well restored, and this restoration should be re-examined. At present, it has a lining applied with wax, which does not provide an attractive surface. The retouches are quite heavy handed and could be applied more accurately. All of the restoration is visible under ultraviolet light, and it is quite numerous in the upper sky, particularly the upper right. The condition is better in the large tree. There are isolated losses and areas of thinness and cracking in the darker colors of the foreground. The horse pulling the cart in the center shows numerous losses. If the wax lining were reversed, the painting cleaned and the restoration more diligently applied, the work would improve noticeably.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg, a member of the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture and nominated as Peintre du Roi, is known for his theater designs as well as his sophisticated and original landscapes.  This impressive landscape was exhibited at the 1783 Royal Academy, as confirmed by a sketch of the painting by Edward Francis Burney.¹ Although recognized in the past as a French or Italian countryside, according to Olivier Lefeuvre (see Literature), it is likely an imaginary landscape based on Loutherbourg's travels of 1768, during which time he journeyed to Marseille, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland.  In 1807, he produced a similar composition on a smaller scale in another Royal Academy submission: Landscape with Travelers at Sunset, sold in these rooms, 5 June 2008, lot 89. 

1. Edward Francis Burney was a Royal Academy Student who made sketches after many works exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1780-1784.  A collection his sketches now belong to the Huntington Library Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, including his sketch of the present work (inv. no. 71.17.97).