古斯塔夫·卡勒波特，《諾曼第峭壁》

Estate of the artist
Private Collection, France (by descent from the above)
Acquired from the above

Lausanne, Fondation de l'Hermitage, Caillebotte au coeur de l'impressionisme, 2005, no. 51, illustrated in color in the catalogue
Bremen, Kunsthalle Bremen; Copenhagen, Ordrupgaard & Madrid, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Gustave Caillebotte, 2008-09, no. 31, illustrated in color in the catalogue (with incorrect dimensions)

Marie Berhaut, La Vie et l’oeuvre de Gustave Caillebotte, Paris, 1951, no. 115, illustrated n.p.
Marie Berhaut, Caillebotte, Sa vie et son oeuvre: Catalogue raisonné des peintures et pastels, Paris, 1978, no. 163, illustrated p. 137 (titled Falaise à Villiers-sur-mer and with incorrect dimensions)
Marie Berhaut, Gustave Caillebotte: Catalogue raisonné des peintures et pastels, Paris, 1994, no. 177, illustrated p. 142 (with incorrect dimensions)

The work is in overall very good condition. The canvas is not lined. There is some minor frame abrasion and associated pindot losses around all four edges. there is a nailhead sized pigment loss in upper left corner. The canvas is slightly undulating, most notably toward the lower right and lower left corners. The surface is richly textured; there appear to be grains of sand in the lower register, likely inherent to the artist's process. There is some very fine hairline craquelure in some areas of the foreground where the pigments are thickest. Under UV light, there are strokes of inpainting along the upper edge and scattered throughout the sky. There is a dime-sized area of inpainting in the rocks in the foreground toward the lower right quadrant. There are some additional minor strokes along the lower edge of the canvas.
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.
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Falaise en Normandie is one of Caillebotte's earliest views of Normandy, an area he first visited in June 1880 and returned to every summer in subsequent years. A keen sailor, he participated in the regattas along the Channel and painted coastal views and holiday villas at Villers-sur-Mer, Trouville and Honfleur. Easily reached by train from Paris, Trouville had become a fashionable summer retreat for the French aristocracy by the late nineteenth century. Normandy's landscapes are almost synonymous with Impressionism's early years. By choosing this location for his subject matter, Caillebotte followed in the footsteps of Boudin, who painted there in the 1860s and 1870s. In his own work, however, Caillebotte turned away from the fashionably dressed visitors that dominated Boudin’s compositions and, like his contemporary Monet, focused on the landscape of the region. The colorful landscapes Caillebotte painted at this time resemble, in their spirit, the canvases Monet was painting at nearby Étretat and Pourville (see fig. 2). These paintings mark a shift in the artist's creative output, which perhaps coincided with the rift among the Impressionists when Caillebotte criticized Degas for not showing the paintings he had promised, and for allowing new recruits to show work Caillebotte felt was inferior. The crisp compositions he had painted in Paris are replaced by loose, nature-based landscapes. In the present work the animated brushwork highlighting the movement of the waterfall jetting from the cliff, in addition to the clearly fleeting weather conditions, manifest a truly Impressionist vision. 



The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by the Comité Caillebotte.