Lot n° 198
Estimation :
2000 - 3000
EUR
Register for the sale on drouot.com
Leave absentee bid
Your amount
EUR
Bid by phone
Bid by phone
Your amount
EUR
Charles-Joseph Natoire (1700-1777) - Lot 198
Charles-Joseph Natoire (1700-1777)
The Bridge on the Road to Vicovaro
Pen, ink, watercolor and gouache on paper pasted in full on its mount
303 × 470 mm.
Inscribed in early handwriting, lower center: "Sur le chemin de Vicovaro"; lower right: "Natoire 1760".
Provenance:
Perhaps Natoire, sale after death, Paris, December 14, 1778 and following days, part of n. 227, part of n. 225 and part of n. 263. The set of landscape drawings by Natoire was acquired for 7030 livres by Augustin Menageot (c. 1700-1784).
Bibliography:
Susana Caviglia-Brunel, Charles-Joseph Natoire (1700-1777), 2012, *D. 723.
This is one of many landscape drawings Natoire produced during his stay in Rome as Director of the Palazzo Mancini, then home to the Académie de France.
Most of the artist's landscapes from this period are inscribed with an ancient script; the proposed dating seems to me to be acceptable on stylistic grounds. Landscapes from the 1760s reflect an ideal of harmony between the evocation of nature, respect for antiquity and contemporary history. As in this drawing, the architectures occupy the background of the compositions, most often stretching from one side of the sheet to the other, in such a way as to prevent the viewer's eye from progressing freely towards the background, despite the openings that Natoire often provides.
In the landscapes of these years, the palette is enriched by pink and green tones introduced in still rare, light touches; the colored supports - here beige - already frequent during the Parisian period, acquire a new value in the relationship to the graphic medium, notably in the creation of delicate lighting effects.
Among the figurines of the little people that inhabit Natoire's landscapes, the group on the left of this composition evokes the Holy Family, a motif found in several landscapes (as in the Bayonne drawing, Musée Bonnat, inv.50874).
We would like to thank Susana Caviglia-Brunel for confirming the authenticity of this drawing and for writing this notice.
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue