La Robertsau

Details

WALTER GAY (1856–1937)
La Robertsau
signed 'Walter Gay' (lower left)
oil on canvas
21 ¹/₄ x 25 ¹/₂ in. (54 x 64.6 cm.)
Painted in 1908.

Provenance

The artist.
Mélanie de Bussière, Comtesse de Pourtalès, Paris, France, commissioned from the above, 1908.
Pyms Gallery, London, England.
Patricia O’Callaghan Abell, Washington, D.C.
Estate of the above.
Sotheby’s, New York, 1 December 2004, lot 174, sold by the above.
Private collection, Greenwich, Connecticut, acquired from the above.

Literature

A. E. Gallatin, Walter Gay: Paintings of French Interiors, New York, 1920, no. 5, illustrated (as Salon of Château de la Robertsau, Near Strasbourg).
W. Rieder, A Charmed Couple: The Art and Life of Walter and Matilda Gay, New York, 2000, pp. 176-78, fig. 105, illustrated.

Exhibition

Paris, France, February 1909.

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Paige Kestenman Vice President, Senior Specialist

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Lot Essay

The Château de la Robertsau, located near Strasbourg, France, was the residence of Comtesse Mélanie de Pourtalès and Comte Edmond de Pourtalès, who came to admire Walter Gay's work after acquiring one of his paintings in 1908. Later that year, the Comtesse commissioned the present work and provided a room at the château for the artist to stay in while he painted her preferred subject, the grand Louis XVI salon. A flattering depiction of the opulent space that ultimately pleased his patron, the present work demonstrates the height of Walter Gay's celebrated interiors.