Provenance

Collection of William Cuthbert.
Private Collection, New York.

Exhibited

"Eugène Boudin, 1824-1898: Retrospective Exhibition," Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, New York, 1966, no. 60.

Literature

Robert Schmit, Eugène Boudin: 1824-1898, Paris: Galerie Schmit, 1973, p. 275, #3323 (illustrated).

Note

Born in Honfleur on the estuary of the Seine, Eugène Boudin's oils have traditionally been associated with water and sea, and his landscapes are characterized by a fine, delicate touch coupled with a fluid, spontaneous application of paint. Trouville, along with Toques, Caudebec-en-Caux, Dunkirk, Anvers and Deauville, were locations that Boudin visited and painted throughout his lengthy and successful tenure as one of France's most important 19th century painters of sea, shore, harbors, ports, and skies. Nearly his complete oeuvre is comprised of scenes painted along the Normandy coast, between Honfleur and Deauville. The French 19th century painter Camille Corot is said to have lauded Boudin as the "king of the skies." Throughout his life, Boudin remained fascinated and in awe of nature, describing his feelings as "tortured by her splendor" and "struggling to reproduce [Nature] within the narrow limits of painting."
The son of a sailor, Boudin dedicated himself to painting at the age of 22, at which time he was already familiar with fellow French artists Constant Tryon, Thomas Couture, and Jean-François Millet. Under the tutelage of Dutch painter Johan Jongkind, Boudin learned to paint en plein air. By 1859 he was exhibiting at the Paris Salon, becoming a regular exhibitor there, and later to be bestowed with the honor of Knight of the Legion of Honor. Self-taught, Boudin would become Claude Monet's mentor and teacher, the latter crediting the former with his becoming a painter. Boudin's manner of painting and his depictions of sea and sky, however, were never as detached and broken as typified by the style of the Impressionists. Still, Boudin exhibited his work alongside the canvases of Monet, Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, and Edgar Degas in the first exhibition of Impressionist painting in 1874.

We would like to thank Mr. Manuel Schmit who has confirmed the authenticity of the present lot. This painting will be included in the forthcoming new edition of the Catalogue Raisonné of the artist's work, and will be accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.

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Lot 94

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