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Bernard BOUTET DE MONVEL (1881-1949)
The Favourite Sport, ca…
See original version (French)
25
-
Bernard BOUTET DE MONVEL (1881-1949)
The Favourite Sport, ca…
See original version (French)
Estimate €3,000 - €5,000
Voluntary lot
Description
Bernard BOUTET DE MONVEL (1881-1949)
The Favourite Sport, ca. 1914
Watercolour and Indian ink on Whatman board
Signed lower right
Sheet size: 28.7 x 36 cm
Subject: 21.7 x 28.5 cm
With frame: 32 x 39.5 cm
Showing a Delaunay Belleville 45 - 50 HP chassis, 6 cylinders, type 1914 - 1915, this watercolour is an opportunity for Bernard Boutet de Monvel to pay a discreet tribute to his father, the painter and illustrator Maurice Boutet de Monvel, who has just died. To the right of his composition, he places a group of children, each of whose figures has been copied literally from a composition by the late artist. In the foreground, Jacqueline in a white bonnet, her image inverted, and Fanchon, cut off by the framing of the watercolour, are two emblematic figures from Nos enfants, which Maurice Boutet de Monvel published with Anatole France in 1887. As for the two boys, both were sketched in watercolour by this much-admired father, notably on the frontispiece of the deluxe edition of Ferdinand Fabre's Xavière, which Maurice Boutet de Monvel illustrated for Boussod, Valadon & Cie in 1890.
In the background of our watercolour, the church of Saint-Fiacre in Chevrainvilliers, already painted in oils by Bernard Boutet de Monvel a few years earlier, when his father had retired to Nemours.
The colours are very fresh. Discreet scattered spotting.
At the end of 1913, Bernard Boutet de Monvel, painter and illustrator of elegance, "sportmen and dandies" - along with his brother Roger, the artist was one of the founding members of the Gazette du Bon Ton - was commissioned by Delaunay Belleville, a manufacturer of luxury car chassis, to produce four major watercolour advertisements to illustrate their 1914 catalogue.
These four watercolours, reproduced by Draeger and accompanied by a text by Roger Boutet de Monvel, were intended, through the modernity of their line and the clarity of their composition, to convey all the majesty and chic of the automobiles prized by King Edward VII, Tsar Nicholas II and President Roosevelt alike.
We would like to thank Stéphane-Jacques Addade, President of the European Chamber of Art Experts and expert in the work of Bernard Boutet de Monvel, for confirming the authenticity of this work.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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