El Membrillo beach, near Valparaíso

Details

Johann Moritz Rugendas (1802-1858)
El Membrillo beach, near Valparaíso
oil on canvas
13 x 16½in. (33.1 x 41.8cm.)
The picture was inscribed and dated 'M. Rugendas 1844' on the reverse of the original canvas.

Provenance

Anon. sale, Christie's, 16 Feb. 1973, lot 175 (£1,995 to F. Sabin).
Professor Harold W. Livermore, Sandycombe Lodge, Twickenham.

Literature

P. Diener, Rugendas, 1802-1858, Augsburg, 1997, Catalogo Razonado, p.270, CH-0-13 ('Retrato de tres personas con vista sobre la playa de El Membrillo, cerca de Valparaíso').
P. Diener and M. de Fátima Costa, Juan Mauricio Rugendas. Pintor y Dibujante (exhibition catalogue), Sao Paulo, 1998, p.30, no.30 ('Vista de la bahía de Valparaíso. 1844').

Exhibited

Santiago de Chile, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Juan Mauricio Rugendas, Pintor y Dibujante, 1998, no.30 ('Vista de la bahía de Valparaíso').

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

There are two other versions of this subject taken from the same point of view, but with differing figures (Diener, 1997, CH-O-12 and CH-O-11), the latter dated 'Valpo Nov. 1838'. 'The present picture is dated on the basis of an old inscription on the reverse '[...] 1844'. It is possible Rugendas painted this picture during his last period in Chile, between October 1844 and January 1845, after having visited Peru and Bolivia and shortly before he left for Argentina.' (Pablo Diener, private communication, August 2007)

We are grateful to Dr Pablo Diener for the above information.

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