Offered by Galerie Delvaille
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French furniture of the 18th century & French figurative paintings
Oil on panel signed lower left, Located on the back
Dimensions : Height 28 x Width 22 cm (With frame : 47 x 40 cm)
Justin Pierre Ouvrié is one of the great French romantic painters of the first half of the 19th century. Like Bonington, Horace Vernet, Eugène Isabey or Jules Coignet, Justin Ouvrié was a great traveler. He specialized in urban landscapes and representations of monuments. With his friend Adrien Dauzats, he collaborated in the illustration of the "Voyages pittoresques et romantiques dans l'ancienne France" and participated in the adventure of lithography. Trained at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he received an academic education imbued with neoclassicism, he turned to landscapes and achieved great success under the July Monarchy. In 1832, he was one of the "discoverers" of Brittany. During 30 years, Ouvrié will not cease to travel in almost all the regions of France, and will even carry out paintings in all Europe.
The immense talent of Justin Ouvrié will allow him to exhibit at the Salon of 1831 at the age of 25. Recognized by the critics, he will not cease to expose there until 1873 and will collect medals in 1831 and 1845 as well as at the World Fair of 1855. In 1854, the Legion of Honor crowned this prolific artist whose work is now well represented in French museums.
This painting is an exquisite work by Justin Ouvrié. The artist depicts a profusion of characters bustling around a square in the village of Saint Pol de Léon, a former episcopal city in Finistère. The extremely detailed depiction of the buildings, and the Kreisker chapel in the distance, is a precious document of Breton life just after the Restoration. Justin Ouvrié was one of the first artists to paint these subjects with a delicate realism tinged with romanticism. This is one of the rare and very early works by Justin Ouvrié, circa 1832/1835.
The original varnish of this painting has just been removed and replaced; the work had never been touched for 190 years, and it is in an exceptional freshness. The pictorial material as well as the colors are intact.
This painting is presented in a very nice carved and stuccoed wood frame, then gilded with leaf; it is undoubtedly original. Slightly restored, this frame has kept most of its magnificent gilding, with its "mats et brunis"
