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Lot 3230* - A201 Impressionist & Modern Art - Friday, 01. July 2022, 05.00 PM

JEAN-FRANÇOIS RAFFAËLLI

(1850 Paris 1924)
Le quai Malaquais, Paris.
Oil on canvas.
Signed lower right: JF RAFFAËLLI.
70 × 80.5 cm.

The authenticity of the work has been confirmed by Galerie Brame & Lorenceau, Paris, 15.2.2021. It will be included in the digital catalogue raisonné currently in preparation.

Provenance:
- Bernhard Orthmann, Germany.
- Jessy Strassburger, USA/Vaduz, by descent from the above.
- Private collection Liechtenstein, received as present from the above.
- Marianne und Dr. Egmond Frommelt, Vaduz, by descent from the above.
- Auction Dorotheum, Vienna, 7.6.2021, lot 535.
- German collection, acquired at the above auction.

Exhibited:
Hamburg 1906, Grosse Kunstausstellung / Weihnachts-Ausstellung, Kunstverein in Hamburg, December 1906, no. 85 (label on the reverse).

The French painter Jean-François Raffaëlli was one of the most important chroniclers of Paris. A committed realist, the self-taught artist brilliantly captured the very specific atmospheric qualities of the city and provided it with figures full of character. His scenes speak their own language, depicting both the transience of a moment and the beauty of the ordinary. The artist achieved this aesthetic through a combination of precise brushwork and the sketchy quality of his compositions, which bowed with equal respect to architecture, nature, officer or dog. Of the latter, in particular, the small dog with black and white fur on the lower right can be found in a number of Raffaëlli's city views. It almost seems as if the dog is guiding the viewer on a tour of Paris through the various paintings.

The view in the present work is from Quai Malaquais towards the elegant façade of the Collège des Quatre-Nations, the seat of the Institut de France. This autumnal scene skilfully plays with the changing colours of the season’s transition to grey, and yet the shedding leaves and restrained blue sky still suggest a day with a light breeze. Raffaëlli thus gives the viewer a unique sense of being transported into a bygone scene, which thanks to its loose brushwork and well-preserved condition, is as vibrant as it was on the day it was painted.


CHF 70 000 / 100 000 | (€ 72 160 / 103 090)

Sold for CHF 85 700 (including buyer’s premium)
All information is subject to change.