CAMILLE PISSARRO | Allée dans une fôret

D. Boudy, France
Sale: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, June 24, 1953, lot 109
Sale: Modern Art Center, Zurich, November 5-6, 1953, lot 320G
Sale: Palais Galliéra, Paris, June 17, 1966, lot 40
Sale: Hôtel Rameau, Versailles, June 11-13, 1968, lot 102
Susan Golding, La Jolla (acquired at the above sale and sold: Sotheby's, New York, February 26, 1990, lot 1)
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Joachim Pissarro & Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts, Pissarro, Catalogue critique des peintures, vol. II, Paris, 2005, no. 42, illustrated p. 63

The canvas is lined. Faint lines of stable craquelure are visible in a few places and a pindot loss is visible in the upper center foliage. Under UV light: A thick masking layer of varnish is difficult to read through. A few small strokes of inpainting (the largest 1/4 inch in diameter) is visible at upper center of the composition as well as a few extremely minor pindots near top of foremost tree trunk and at extreme right; larger strokes are also visible at the extreme upper and lower right corners. The work is in otherwise good condition.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

In their catalogue raisonné, Joachim Pissarro and Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts state that "the narrow, vertical format of this painting, emphasised by the vertical lines of the trees, is found again in other early paintings and drawings by Pissarro. Sous-Bois, or under-growth views of this kind, were a favorite subject of the mid-nineteenth-century Barbizon School artists [whose preferred locations] Pissarro frequented soon after his arrival in Paris in 1855. Ludovic-Rodo Pissarro knew of this painting, which is mentioned in the documents for the supplement to the catalogue raisonné of his father's work" (Joachim Pissarro & Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts, op. cit., p. 63).