Albert Charles Lebourg
Quai de la Seine à Bercy, matin de printemps
Oil on canvas, old relining 38.5 x 61 cm Framed. Signed and inscribed 'A Lebourg Paris' in dark red lower right. Verso on upper stretcher bar the label of the Collection Roger Marx (Lugt 1800b) as well a paper label of the shipping company Pitt & Scott, Paris, New York, London verso on central stretcher bar and a further paper label inscribed "les maisons sur les bateaux" in handwriting. - Some frame-related rubbing in the margins.
The painting on offer once belonged to the French art critic Roger Marx, deceased in 1913. His illustrious collection of impressionists with paintings by Bonnard, Manet, Monet, Seurat and Vuillard, among others, was auctioned on 11th and 12th May 1914 with the help of the art dealers Durand-Ruel and Bernheim-Jeune in Galerie Manzi, Joyant, Paris, among them also the present work by Lebourg.
In a typically impressionistic manner, with an exact specification of the season and time of day, the observer is offered a scenic view of Bercy which at that time was located at the most eastern outskirts of Paris on the right bank of the Seine. Our view is drawn from the industrial shore area in the foreground downstream towards the city centre. On the far horizon, the towers of Notre Dame Cathedral are vaguely perceptible in the
morning haze.
Certificate
Accompanied by a photo-certificate from Rodolphe Walter, Wildenstein Institute Paris, dated 14 May 2007.
Provenance
Collection Roger Marx, Paris; Galerie Manzi, Joyant, Paris, Vente Collection Roger Marx, 11 - 12 May 1914, lot 45; Private collection, Great Britain; Noortmann & Brod, New York; Sotheby's London, Impressionist and Modern Art, 20 Jun. 2007, lot 405; Private collection, Czech Republic
Literature
Léonce Bénédite, Albert Lebourg, Paris 1923, no. 76