Edward Seago, R.W.S.

Laing Galleries, Toronto;
Colnaghi, London, where purchased by a private collector

Original canvas. Some minor areas of craquelure in the centre of sky and another near the central figure in yellow; otherwise the work appears in good overall condition. Ultraviolet light reveals some small retouching in the lower corners and along the lower edge. A spot in the trees right hand side and a few minor isolated flecks through the sky. Held in a light coloured plaster frame with a grey slip, ready to hang.
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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."

‘For my part I was fascinated by the sunlight and shadow of those crowded walks beneath the chestnut trees, by the ever moving colourful pattern of men, women and children, dogs and perambulators…’ Edward Seago, With Capricorn to Paris, 1956, pp.89-90

Seago made at least eight major painting expeditions to France between 1951 and 1967, often travelling on his yacht Capricorn across the Channel to Dieppe or Le Havre where he wound his way up the Seine to Paris. In Paris he painted a series of shimmering pictures of the grand buildings, bustling pavements and parks and the vast squares and fountains. The present picture depicts the Naval Ministry built in the eighteenth century as a palace for Louis XV, the Hôtel de la Marine. It was painted from the raised tree-lined terrace overlooking Place de la Concorde and is lit by radiant summer sunshine; ‘In the Tuileries Gardens, the Place de la Concorde and the Champs Elysees, people rendered with a few seemingly insouciant flicks of the wrist convey to perfection the local scene. Tall gentlemen in well-appointed outfits and the impeccably rolled umbrellas, fashionable young women in boldly striped or polka-dot dresses, groups in animated conversation, a lady walking her dog or pushing a pushing a perambulator – all are suggested, as is appropriate in a crowd scene, yet also remarkably individualized, so that each figure has its own specific personality. The mood of the city caught hold of the artist and imposed its joie-de-vivre on him.’ James W. Reid, Edward Seago – The Landscape Art, 1991, p.190