Galerie Dreyfus
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LOUIS-LÉOPOLD BOILLY (LA BASSÉE, 1761 – PARIS, 1845) Landsca…
See original version (French)
1
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LOUIS-LÉOPOLD BOILLY (LA BASSÉE, 1761 – PARIS, 1845) Landsca…
See original version (French)
Estimate €26,000 - €33,000
Voluntary lot
Description
LOUIS-LÉOPOLD BOILLY
(LA BASSÉE, 1761 – PARIS, 1845)
Landscape
c. 1800
Oil on canvas
32.5 x 40.5 cm. Publication
Etienne BRETON, Pascale ZUBER, Catalogue Raisonné of Boilly, the painter of Parisian life
from Louis XVI to Louis-Philippe, no. 873 P.
Expert opinion
Etienne Breton
Provenance
Basset auction, Paris, 7 April 1824, no. 185
In this idyllic landscape, reminiscent of a postcard, time seems to
stand still. In the foreground on the right, a group of figures in traditional dress,
almost dressed for a Sunday outing, are chatting peacefully. Two women with their children have paused
on their walk to speak to two men sitting on rocks. These figures, by
their positioning and the light falling upon them, serve as the point of entry into this
landscape, which unfolds behind them in successive planes along a winding path. Indeed,
immediately to the left, a patch of shadow compels us to look beyond it towards a village nestled
on a terraced hillside. Further on, it is the blue of a sunken lake that draws
our gaze before it is lost amongst distant, ethereal peaks, in accordance with the principles of
atmospheric perspective. But beyond the topography alone, the painter seeks here to
capture a picturesque landscape through the architecture of its buildings, but also through the folklore of
its inhabitants, in a romantic regionalist vision. This artistic movement to which
Boilly subscribes here arose from a desire to rediscover simple subjects in painting drawn from
everyday life—albeit a fantasised version—where the locals always appear in their finest
attire, thereby authenticating their connection to a particular region. Here, the presence
of mountains and a lake suggests a pre-Alpine landscape, perhaps in Piedmont.
Louis-Léopold Boilly (1761–1845) was a French painter and engraver, renowned for his portraits
and genre scenes depicting the lives of his contemporaries. The son of a woodcarver, he
studied painting—and more specifically ‘trompe-l’œil’—under Dominique Doncre
in Arras. Settling in Paris in 1785, he began his career with gallant scenes in the style of
Greuze and Fragonard. However, as a great admirer of 17th-century Dutch painting,
he developed a fine, porcelain-like touch in the style of Gérard Dou or Van Mieris, whose
paintings he owned. Forced to change his subjects, which were deemed immoral, during the Revolution, he became
a portrait painter, taking particular care to convey the intimacy of family
or friendly relationships. Although he exhibited for the first time at the Salon in 1794, it was chiefly during the Directoire
and the Empire that he rose to fame. He enjoyed great success at the 1798 Salon with a
group portrait, *Réunion d’artistes dans l’atelier d’Isabey* (Gathering of Artists in Isabey’s Studio), and was subsequently awarded the gold medal at the
1804 for *The Arrival of the Coach* (both now in the Louvre), which depicts one of his
early scenes of urban life – a subject that would become his speciality. As a chronicler of the social life
of his time, Boilly became a ‘painter of modern life’ ahead of his time.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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