Description
This lush landscape shows the château of Pierrefonds in the distance framed by flourishing foliage in the foreground. The picture depicts the château from the same viewpoint as in a painting by Camille Corot (see photo), an artist who significantly influenced Français. (Corot is represented in the exhibition by a charcoal drawing [cat. no. 45] hanging nearby.) Corot's picture of Pierrefonds shows the château in ruins, whereas the pristine condition of the building in Français's view indicates that his drawing dates after the château's extensive restoration by the architect Viollet-le-Duc in 1870.
Provenance
Estate of the artist (estate stamp [Lugt 944], lower right, in black ink); [Français studio sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris (14-15 March 1898), no. 136 (sold for 275 francs, according to annotated copy in Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles)]. [Galerie Jacques Fischer-Chantal Kiener, Paris]; purchased in 1979.
Accession Number
2008.380
Medium
pen and black ink, brush and black and gray wash, and graphite, heightened with white gouache
Dimensions
Sheet: 42.2 x 56.2 cm (16 5/8 x 22 1/8 in.); Matted: 54.6 x 67.3 cm (21 1/2 x 26 1/2 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Credit Line
Bequest of Muriel Butkin