The Best Sale Ever
Lot 130:
Description
Keywords: NO RESERVE, bicycle, seaside artwork, French coastal scene, vintage wall art, 19th century oil, framed painting
Summary:
Henry Picou oil on canvas painting of a young girl seated on rocks by the sea with a bicycle at her side and low buildings and shoreline stretching into the distance. Signed “Henry Picou” and dated 1893 at the lower right.
Henry-Pierre Picou (1824-1895) was a French Neoclassical / Neo-Grec painter known for his mythological, history, and Orientalist paintings. He was born in Nantes, Upper Brittany, France on February 27, 1824.
Picou studied at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, under Swiss academic painter Charles (Marc-Charles) Gleyre (1806-1874). Gleyre was a popular teacher and his students became giants in the art world, including Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley and James Abbott McNeill Whistler. The Swiss master’s precise draughtsmanship and perspective drawing was instilled within his students, including the work of Picou. It was at the Ecole that Picou met like-minded fellow artists Jean-Léon Gérome (1824-1904), Jean-Louis Hamon (1821-1874) and Gustave Boulanger (1824-1888), all of whom with Picou championed the French Neoclassic movement. Neoclassic art looked to the grandeur and formality of Greek and Roman antiquity, their myths and history as a reaction to the overly stylized Rococo movement. Picou and his fellow artists sought a rational, methodical and logical approach to art, rejecting artistic whim. Of the artist’s circle, Picou’s work shows the closest stylistic ties to his teacher Gleyer. Gleyer traveled for more than six years in the Far East which would also influenced Picou.
(Painting good with some overall craquelure. Frame with noticeable chips, scratches, and wear to the finish)
Measurement: Art: 22 x 18 in. (55.9 x 45.7 cm.), Frame: 25 3/4 x 22 in. (65.4 x 55.9 cm.) approx
Condition: All descriptions and statements are our opinions and are not guarantees. Bidders are encouraged to carefully review all photographs and, when possible, to examine items in person prior to bidding. By placing a bid, you acknowledge and agree to the Terms and Conditions of Sale.
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