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Lot Essay
In the late 1850s, Pissarro met Ludovic Piette de Montfoucault (1826-1877) who would become his closest and most intimate friend. Aside from this pastel, Pissarro had painted an earlier portrait of Piette at work in his studio in 1861 and Piette made a portrait of Pissarro at his easel (fig. 1). Piette was a well-to-do Breton whose family owned a large country estate at Montfoucault near Mayenne. His house often provided a welcome haven for Pissarro and his family in hard times in the mid-1870s.
There were few barriers between the two painters as they shared a deep love of painting as well as a passionate interest in social and political affairs. The region of Montfoucault played a pivotal role in Pissarro's development as a lyrical painter of rural France. It was there, during a visit to the Piette home in autumn 1874, that Pissaro's began to paint peasants engaged in the prosaic tasks of the fields, the kitchen garden, or farmhouse yard. Before his departure he announced to the critic Théodore Duret that he was going to the 'pays de mon ami Piette' [to study] 'les figures et les animaux de la vraie campagne' (Bailly-Herzberg, La correspondance de Camille Pissarro, Paris, 1980, vol. I, p. 95).
In 1874, the year he executed Piette's portrait, Pissarro also painted a portrait of Cézanne, as well as his own self-portrait. True to his life long role, Pissarro's portraits of his artist friends serve as a symbolic means of unifying the often disparate group. The portraits of Piette and of Cézanne were made in the same year as the first Impressionist exhibition, and like the exhibition they helped to strengthen group identity and affirm a sense of artistic mission against negative criticism.
There were few barriers between the two painters as they shared a deep love of painting as well as a passionate interest in social and political affairs. The region of Montfoucault played a pivotal role in Pissarro's development as a lyrical painter of rural France. It was there, during a visit to the Piette home in autumn 1874, that Pissaro's began to paint peasants engaged in the prosaic tasks of the fields, the kitchen garden, or farmhouse yard. Before his departure he announced to the critic Théodore Duret that he was going to the 'pays de mon ami Piette' [to study] 'les figures et les animaux de la vraie campagne' (Bailly-Herzberg, La correspondance de Camille Pissarro, Paris, 1980, vol. I, p. 95).
In 1874, the year he executed Piette's portrait, Pissarro also painted a portrait of Cézanne, as well as his own self-portrait. True to his life long role, Pissarro's portraits of his artist friends serve as a symbolic means of unifying the often disparate group. The portraits of Piette and of Cézanne were made in the same year as the first Impressionist exhibition, and like the exhibition they helped to strengthen group identity and affirm a sense of artistic mission against negative criticism.