Éloi-Noël Bouvard (1875 -1957) - Pair of Venetian views, Canal Grande and Basilica della Salute

Pair of Venetian Views.
Eloi-Noël Bouvard - (1875 -1957)
signed Marc Aldine

(1) "Il Canal Grande
(2) "Basilica della Salute

Oil painting on canvas
Original carved and gilded frames
Canvas cm. 65 x 52 -
Frame 85x72
Very good condition

The price is for the pair not separable

We present you a splendid and unpublished pair of beautiful Venetian views. These are two paintings dedicated by the famous French landscape painter Marc Aldine, considered one of the most valuable illustrators of the lagoon city in the early 1900s. Both works present a spectacular image of the Grand Canal and a fascinating scenario featuring the silhouette of the Church of the Salute taken from a distance from a landing stage. The author expresses his extraordinary pictorial skills in an incomparable way with a magical effect of light and shadow and with an incredible explosion of colors. The infinite chromatic range creates a fantastic, almost surreal atmosphere, which lends itself well to defining the exceptional characteristics that distinguish Venice and its uniqueness.
The pair of paintings, which is a rarity for the production of the French master, are perfectly matched and complete with their beautiful original frames that further enhance the pleasure of the images with an excellent wall effect.
The canvases are intact and in excellent condition without the slightest touch up.

Biography :

Eloi-Noël Béraud (1875-1957) was a French painter who signed his works with many names, the best known of which are Bouvard and Marc-Aldine.

He was born on December 26, 1875 in Saint-Étienne. The civil status declares and registers "Éloi-Noël Isodore Béraud born of unknown parents". In 1885, the government sent him to a foster family in Toul where he remained until February 10, 1894. Back in Saint-Etienne, he attended the Beaux-Arts school where he copied the old masters with great virtuosity.

From 1900, he began to forge his own style and painted beautiful canvases with Barbizon accents, as well as many typical Art Nouveau scenes signed N. Béraud or sometimes Pelletier.

In January 1901, he moved to Paris, rue Boulard. The following year, he produced a whole series of postcards for the British market. The success of these illustrations lasted about ten years and contributed greatly to his fame both in France and across the Channel.
After the war, he returned to Paris and from 1919 onwards found work creating models and advertising posters for Galeries Lafayette.

In 1924, he moved to a large house, Place Le Vacher in Écouen (Val-d'Oise), where he opened his studio. A man with a calm temperament, he expressed himself with serenity and worked tirelessly in his studio from 7am to 8pm, always signing his works with pseudonyms: Béraud, Pelletier or Luda.
1930 was a fundamental year, which would forever mark the pictorial destiny of the Master.
In April he left to discover Venice. The effect was instantaneous, the beauty of the place fascinated him, he was won over and decided to devote himself to painting Venice alone.

There he met the famous Italian artist Rubens Santoro (1859-1942), who introduced Eloi to the special light of the City of the Doges. The impressionistic glitter and reflections of the water in the canals, all the variations of ochre, white or brown tones that form the tones of the facades of the Venetian houses.

Many of his paintings also show the influence of Felix Ziem in the more accentuated use of color, with freer and more fluid brushstrokes, which reflect his love for Venice by capturing the magnificent views of the city.

Upon his return from Venice, Eloi arrived in Nice to present his freshly dried canvases to Morscio, an Italian-born gallery owner. The latter, enthusiastic, immediately signed a contract.

While he was already very successful with his previous works, signed Béraud, Pelletier and Luda, Morscio recommended a more commercial and Italian-sounding pseudonym: Marc Aldine. This signature became one of the two nicknames he would use on all his paintings for the rest of his career.

His second nickname appeared at the end of the 1930s, at the request of the English gallery Whitgift Galleries which, to distinguish his commissions from those of Morscio, decided that he would sign Bouvard, a very French name that appealed to the British market.

From the beginning of his collaboration with the Morscio and Whitgift Galleries, until the end of his career, Eloi-Noël painted only views of Venice signed Marc Aldine or Bouvard. Between 1930 and 1957 he painted nearly 600 canvases, becoming one of the most acclaimed Venetian landscape painters of the 20th century.