Recent discovery of an important work by Armand Guillaumin

May 27th, 2021

We are pleased to unveil a recent discovery of an important 1875 oil on canvas painting by Armand Guillaumin depicting the Quais of the Seine.  This work was offered for sale in a small French auction house as simply “French school”. The work immediately resonated with its colour palette and brushwork and we felt strongly that, although unsigned, it was an early painting by Guillaumin.

Following submission to the Comite Guillaumin the work was confirmed as authentic by Dominique Fabiani, Stéphanie Chardeau-Botteri & Jacques de la Béraudière. The work is now accompanied by the certificate of the Comite Guillaumin and will be included in the second volume of the Catalogue Raisonne which is under preparation.

This large work is on its original canvas and in its original frame. The painting was very dirty when originally purchased and our conservator has cleaned the work and brought this fantastic painting back to its original condition. The frame itself has the prestigious Paris makers mark of P Husson who were specialist carvers and gilders of the finest frames of the time. They numbered each and every frame they made and applied a brass plaque to the back – this particular example was created in 1903 and is numbered 2546 in their inventory. We are currently researching with the Archives National to locate the records of Husson and hopefully be able to find who owned this painting in 1903 – which currently is a mystery!

The painting dates to 1875 which is a highly important time for the painter as he had exhibited in the 1st Impressionist Exhibition in the previous year 1874 – exhibiting under the guise of the Anonymous Society of Painters, Sculptors, Engravers. At that time Guillaumin alongside Monet, Pissarro, Degas, Renoir, Sisley, Morisot and others, arranged the first aggregated collection of impressionist paintings with 165 works displayed. A critical failure but a highly important moment in art history.

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