European & British Paintings Day Auction
European & British Paintings Day Auction
Property from a Distinguished European Collection
Farm in a Landscape
Auction Closed
July 4, 02:11 PM GMT
Estimate
40,000 - 60,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Property from a Distinguished European Collection
Jean-François Millet
French
1814 - 1875
Farm in a Landscape
signed J. F. Millet lower left
oil on canvas
Unframed: 58 by 73.7cm., 22¾ by 29in.
Framed: 78.5 by 94.5cm., 31 by 37¼in.
Secretan collection, Paris
Edonars collection, Paris
Foinard collection, Paris
Goupil & Verledon, Paris, by 1892
Purchased from the above by Mr. C.M.S. White, by 1893
Thence by descent to his daughter
Kievits Galleries, Pasadena, California, by 1931 (purchased from the above)
Colonel Steven L'Hommedieu Slocum, Washington, D.C. , by 1932 (purchased from the above)
Knoedler, New York (their label on the stretcher)
Margaret O. F Proctor
Sale: Christie's, New York, 12 October 1979, lot 50
Purchased at the above sale by the father of the present owner; thence by descent
Compositionally and stylistically this work can be grouped with the landscapes Millet painted in the early 1870s in the environs of Gruchy in Normandy, where he grew up. Millet returned to his native Normandy in August 1870, to flee the Franco-Prussian war, and he remained until November 1871. Here, he completed a number of paintings, and to begin paintings that were finished later in Barbizon. These works confirm not only the larger role that landscape (without human incident) now played in his art, but also their importance for the development of Impressionism. His earlier Auvergne drawings, pastels and paintings were a preparation for the most unusual characteristic of the Norman landscapes: their high horizon lines and frequent suppression of receding diagonals. By emphasizing horizontal planes that rise upward on the canvas, Millet eliminated some of the traditional indicators of deep space. At the same time, he more often applied colour in separate brushstrokes, intensified his palette, and painted on light primings. All of these characteristics shared in the rapid evolution of French landscape towards Impressionism.
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