Eugène Fromentin

(French, 1820-1876)

La Chasse à la Gazelle

oil on panel

signed Eug. Fromentin (lower right)

10 5/8 x 16 inches.

Barbara Wright has previously confirmed the authenticity of this lot and provided additional catalogue information.

Provenance:

Noël Bardac, by 1910

Monique Uzielli

Her sale, Sotheby's, New York, May 4, 2012, lot 29

Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Exhibited:

Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, Vingt Peintres du XIXe siècle, Exposition au profit de la Croix Rouge Française, May 2 -31, 1910, p. 24, no. 97 (lent by Noël Bardac)

Lot note:

The present work bears a very close resemblance to Fromentin's La Chasse aux gazelles of 1864 (see: James Thompson and Barbara Wright, Eugène Fromentin, 1820-1876: visions d'Algérie et d'Egypte, Paris, 2008, p. 234, illus.), which suggests it can be dated to the same period. In addition to its style and technique, this date is further supported by Jérôme Ottoz's stencil on the panel's verso. Ottoz was Fromentin's framer and paint merchant from 1863 until the artist's death in 1876. Though it is not certain when Noël Bardac acquired this artwork, the wealthy Parisian banker was a celebrated patron of the arts. In 1893 Bardac purchased the newly constructed Château du Haut-Buc (near Versailles, and now a school), ceding it in 1918 to the Italian astronomer, Gentilli de Giuseppe.