Lot Essay
The present work is a preparatory sketch for the Salon picture of 1880 (sold Christie's New York, 24 May 1989, lot 76) which was considered to be one of Béraud's masterpieces. Le bal public was to Béraud what Le bal du moulin de la galette was to Renoir. With his view of La vie moderne, Béraud's painting would have been a more appropriate addition to the fifth Impressionist exhibition of 1880 than it was to the Salon of that year. Béraud's Le bal public is, on so many levels, a page in history of contemporary Parisian life and illustrates that which Charles Baudelaire called 'the heroism of modern life', of which Béraud was truly a champion.
Sold with a photocopy of a certificate dated Paris, 18 January 1991, in which Patrick Offenstadt states 'Cette oeuvre sera incluse au catalogue raisonné du peintre Jean Béraud. Il sera précisé que l'oeuvre a des repeints et que la signature est probablement apocryphe.'.
Sold with a photocopy of a certificate dated Paris, 18 January 1991, in which Patrick Offenstadt states 'Cette oeuvre sera incluse au catalogue raisonné du peintre Jean Béraud. Il sera précisé que l'oeuvre a des repeints et que la signature est probablement apocryphe.'.