Offered by Galerie Delvaille
REQUEST INFORMATION
French furniture of the 18th century & French figurative paintings
Oil on canvas circa 1890, signed lower left and inscribed “Amiens”.
Original canvas, stretcher and frame
Described on page 306 in the book by Léonce Bénédite
“ALBERT LEBOURG” published by Les Galeries Georges Petit in 1923
50.5 x 73 cm. With frame 73 x 96 cm
Albert Lebourg was a French Impressionist and leader of the Rouen School. The Musée d'Orsay, like other major museums, preserves many works by this crucial artist. The release of Wildenstein's long-awaited catalog raisonné half a century ago, and the incomprehensible absence of a national exhibition in France, explain in part his relatively low market value. However, the average value of his paintings is also based on the large number of works he produced, particularly in the last 20 years of his life. For while his painting was modernist and visionary from 1870 onwards, his impressionist touch was to give way to a conventional softness in certain paintings. Albert Lebourg's beautiful oil paintings are treated in full paste, often with a knife, and explode with color and contrast. While price differences for an artist from one work to the next are normal, Albert Lebourg is one of those painters for whom certain criteria are decisive.
Albert Lebourg received academic training in Rouen, and in 1872 exhibited at the Salon Municipal de Rouen alongside Corot, Monet, Pissarro, Sisley and Ziem. When he was just 23, the president of the Société des Beaux-Arts d'Alger offered him a position as a drawing teacher. Lebourg was seduced by the light of North Africa, where he developed a free and lively painting technique. Back in Paris, Lebourg exhibited at the 4th and 5th Impressionist Exhibitions in 1879 and 1880. His favorite subjects were river landscapes.
This unique work features a magnificent composition of France's largest cathedral in Amiens. Albert Lebourg's painting is pure Impressionism, in which he plays with light and the waters of the Somme. The sky plays an equally important role, with the artist boldly introducing pink and green. The painting, in a perfect state of preservation, was laid down with speed and mastery. At 40, Lebourg was already at the peak of his talent.
Works by Lebourg in museums :
Musée du Louvre, Musée d'Orsay, Musée Carnavalet, Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Anger, de Caen, de Dunkerke, de Lille, de Rouen, de Marseille....
