Description:

EUGENE LOUIS BOUDIN
(1824-1898) French marine and landscape painter. The mentor of Claude Monet, he was one of the first to embrace the ‘plein air' style of painting outdoors which would become the hallmark of the Impressionists. Rare, fine content A.L.S. ‘E. Boudin' 2pp. 8vo., Venice, July 3, 1895, to his gallerist Paul Detrimont, the influential art dealer who, with Durand-Ruel, established the market for modernism. In part: '…I am sending here my not-so-serious testimony – I say unserious in the sense that I am only giving my opinion on the painting which is from the master's last period, so…it is not authorious, if it is even doable…I received your letter with pleasure but for some time the heat is great. Don't count on me going to Paris upon my return…[I may go to] Deauville…I wrote you that it is torrid and we can no longer resist the shade…Besides here we only go out in the evenings or go to the Lido for sea bathing and to cool off under the casino tents. I have not had the pleasure of seeing you…in Paris…I am nervous and hungry for rest…give my best to Mme. Detrimont…'. Boudin's visits to Venice in the 1890s marked a pivotal moment in his career. He made a short trip there in 1892 and again in 1894, but it was in 1895 that he spent two months there and created an incredible total of 75 paintings and sketches. Three of his best-known works were executed during this trip: ‘Venice – Seascape at the Guidecca', ‘Venice' and ‘Venice: View from the Grand Canal'. Boudin continued to work on these paintings when he returned to Paris, exhibiting them in 1897. They were enthusiastically received by collectors and in fact fetched record prices in the studio sale after the artist's death just one year later. Boudin once said to his art dealer that Venice is ‘somewhat disguised by the artists who usually paint Venice, who have disfigured it by turning it into a city heated by the brightest and hottest sun. On the contrary, Venice, like all luminous cities, has a grey hue, the atmosphere is mild and misty and the sky arrays itself with clouds, just like the sky of our Norman and Dutch regions'. Fine, with original holograph envelope.

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May 4, 2025 10:00 AM EDT
Elkton, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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$100 $499 $20
$500 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 $99,999 $5,000
$100,000 + $10,000