Lot Essay
Pissarro's attachment to Montfoucault derived from his visit to the farm of the painter Ludovic Piette, shortly after his arrival from St. Thomas in 1864. Piette's home served as a haven for the Pissarros, who were regular visitors until the former's death in 1877. Regarding his treatment of the subject matter, Lisa Portnoy Stein writes, "With few exceptions, the workers and animals in Pissarro's Montfoucault paintings are imbued with greater prominence than are their ancestors who stroll along the roads of Pontoise and Louveciennes" (L.P. Stein, Impressionists in Winter: Effet de Neige, exh. cat., Washington, D.C., The Phillips Collection, and San Francisco, The Fine Arts Museum, September 1998-May 1999, p. 150).
The technique of small brush strokes, perfected by Pissarro and his fellow artists, was perfectly suited to rendering the effects of snow. Shikes and Harper write, Pissarro was fascinated "by the challenge of capturing the reflection of color in the snow, [and] particularly liked to paint winter scenes, sometimes until his fingers could no longer wield the brush" (R.E. Shikes and P. Harper, Pissarro: His Life and Work, New York, 1980, p.127).
The present work is the largest and most resolved of the four versions of the subject. The first dates to 1874 and the final two including (one in gouache) to 1891.
The technique of small brush strokes, perfected by Pissarro and his fellow artists, was perfectly suited to rendering the effects of snow. Shikes and Harper write, Pissarro was fascinated "by the challenge of capturing the reflection of color in the snow, [and] particularly liked to paint winter scenes, sometimes until his fingers could no longer wield the brush" (R.E. Shikes and P. Harper, Pissarro: His Life and Work, New York, 1980, p.127).
The present work is the largest and most resolved of the four versions of the subject. The first dates to 1874 and the final two including (one in gouache) to 1891.