Lot Essay
Denise Bazetoux will include this painting in her forthcoming Lebasque catalogue raisonné.
The present work depicts the Lebasque's elder daughter Marthe, then in her mid-twenties, and his son Pierre on the balcony of the artist's home at Saint-Tropez in 1920. Another large scale work from this summer, featuring the same two sitters, is Jeune fille au châle espagnol et petit violiniste (Detroit, Institute of Arts). Recalling her father's work and his contentment at living in the South of France, to where the family had moved in 1906, Marthe later said: 'He had a happy disposition, he was content in the middle of his family. He was happy about painting...He adored us forming a happy image. He felt that very strongly, and conveyed that image with such strength in his paintings' (quoted in exh. cat. Lebasque 1865-1937, San Francisco 1986, p. 113).
The present work depicts the Lebasque's elder daughter Marthe, then in her mid-twenties, and his son Pierre on the balcony of the artist's home at Saint-Tropez in 1920. Another large scale work from this summer, featuring the same two sitters, is Jeune fille au châle espagnol et petit violiniste (Detroit, Institute of Arts). Recalling her father's work and his contentment at living in the South of France, to where the family had moved in 1906, Marthe later said: 'He had a happy disposition, he was content in the middle of his family. He was happy about painting...He adored us forming a happy image. He felt that very strongly, and conveyed that image with such strength in his paintings' (quoted in exh. cat. Lebasque 1865-1937, San Francisco 1986, p. 113).