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Lot Essay
Joachim Pissarro and Christopher Lloyd have confirmed the authenticity of this watercolor.
The present watercolor is a study for a series of oil paintings which Pissarro executed during a stay in Rouen in January-April 1896. Famous for its medieval cathedral and busy marketplace, Rouen by the 1890s had become heavily industrialized, especially on the recently developed south (or left) bank of the Seine, serving as an important shipping port for goods heading to and from Paris. Pissarro's customary elevated point-of-view in this study is from his hotel on the Quai de Paris on the right bank, looking southwest to the docks and warehouses across the river, with the northern terminus of the Pont de Boïeldieu (Grand Pont) visible in the lower left corner. An expanded view of these motifs may be seen in two oil paintings (cf. L.R. Pissarro and L. Venturi, nos. 954 and 955), while other paintings show the docks and shipping close-up. Encouraged by the success of this first series of Rouen paintings at Durand-Ruel, Pissarro returned to the city for a second stay in September-November.
In this later phase of his career Pissarro had come to avoid picturesque elements in his urban landscapes, looking instead for more radical subject matter that recorded the growing industrialization of France's urban centers. His treatment of Rouen resulted in "what can only be described as the most extensive and elaborate representation of an industrialized city in the history of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism" (C. Lloyd, "Camille Pissarro and Rouen," Studies on Camille Pissarro, London, 1986, p. 90).
The present watercolor is a study for a series of oil paintings which Pissarro executed during a stay in Rouen in January-April 1896. Famous for its medieval cathedral and busy marketplace, Rouen by the 1890s had become heavily industrialized, especially on the recently developed south (or left) bank of the Seine, serving as an important shipping port for goods heading to and from Paris. Pissarro's customary elevated point-of-view in this study is from his hotel on the Quai de Paris on the right bank, looking southwest to the docks and warehouses across the river, with the northern terminus of the Pont de Boïeldieu (Grand Pont) visible in the lower left corner. An expanded view of these motifs may be seen in two oil paintings (cf. L.R. Pissarro and L. Venturi, nos. 954 and 955), while other paintings show the docks and shipping close-up. Encouraged by the success of this first series of Rouen paintings at Durand-Ruel, Pissarro returned to the city for a second stay in September-November.
In this later phase of his career Pissarro had come to avoid picturesque elements in his urban landscapes, looking instead for more radical subject matter that recorded the growing industrialization of France's urban centers. His treatment of Rouen resulted in "what can only be described as the most extensive and elaborate representation of an industrialized city in the history of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism" (C. Lloyd, "Camille Pissarro and Rouen," Studies on Camille Pissarro, London, 1986, p. 90).