The Cliffs of Flamborough Head - Charles Joseph Kuwasseg (1802 - 1877)

Charles Joseph Kuwasseg (1802 - 1877), The Cliffs of Flamborough Head, Yorkshire, oil on canvas, 34 5/8 by 52 1/3 in. (88 x 133 cm)

Signed and dated lower right : C. Kuwasseg / père / 1869 (?)

Provenance
“19th Century Continental Pictures,” Watercolors and Drawings, London, Christies, 14 June 1996, lot 12 (Fisherfolk on a beach, Etretat, 1863, huile sur toile, 88 x 133 cm) ;
(acquired from the above sale) Private Collection
“Victorian & 19th Century Continental Picture,” London, Christie’s, 20 March 1998, lot 67 (Fisherfolk on the Beach, Etretat, 1863, oil on canvas, 88,5 x 133 cm) ;
(acquired from the above sale) Private Collection


Catalog note
The painting is a view inspired of the white chalk cliffs of Flamborough Head which Charles Joseph Kuwasseg admired during a road-trip to Yorkshire in England. The artist enjoyed to travel and his entire work was devoted to landscape painting.
Charles Joseph Kuwasseg was born in 1802, in Trieste, from a modest Austrian family. Two of his siblings, Karl and Leopold, were also painters. Charles Joseph was first employed in leather and carpentry workshops before beginning his artistic training in Vienna. As a draftsman, he followed Count Schomberg on a trip to America. They visited Havana, roamed Peru and Brazil, willing to take risks.1 Charles Joseph Kuwasseg settled permanently in France after 1830 and he obtained citizenship in 1867.2 He presented his paintings at the Paris Salons, which attracted the attention of collectors and art lovers; including King Louis-Philippe, the Count of Paris and Baron de Rothschild.3 Charles Joseph won several medals at the Salons of 1845, 1861 and 1863.
Charles Joseph's artworks were particularly in vogue in the 1860s, following the purchase of a pair of paintings by the Emperor Napoleon III at the 1861 Salon. The two paintings described by the poet Théophile Gautier, regular critic of art exhibitions, depict the famous chalk cliffs of the rocky headland of Flamborough on the Yorkshire coast in England. The Empress Eugenie carried away these two highly regarded views into her exile in Switzerland. They are still part of the Arenenberg Castle art collection. An old photograph of the Empress’s tea room shows how close our painting is to their subject.


Charles Joseph Kuwasseg enjoyed an excellent reputation internationally during his lifetime; in France, in England, in Austria and in Italy. The artist's production is more significant in the English museums (Victoria & Albert Museum in London and The Bowes Museum) than in French museums, which will undoubtedly reassign compositions given until then to his son Charles Euphrasie (1833-1904).


Vintage photograph of one of the two Views of Flamborough Head bought at the 1861 Paris Salon by Napoléon III and displayed in the Tea Room of the Empress Eugenie at Arenenberg Castel on Lake Constance in Swisserland (Napoleonmuseum Archives)