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Sunset with a distant view of Abbeville
細節
JOHN RUSKIN (1819-1900)
Sunset with a distant view of Abbeville
graphite, aquarelle et gouache14 x 22.3 cm.
pencil, watercolour and bodycolour
5 ½ x 8 ¾ in.
Sunset with a distant view of Abbeville
graphite, aquarelle et gouache14 x 22.3 cm.
pencil, watercolour and bodycolour
5 ½ x 8 ¾ in.
來源
Francesca Alexander (1837-1917), Florence et Boston, MA, don de l’artiste. Helen Kelly, Sagamore Beach, MA, par descendance. Vente, CRN Auctions, Cambridge, MA, 30 avril 2017, lot 1. Stephen Ongpin Fine Art, Londres. Acquis auprès de celui-ci par les propriétaires actuels en 2019.
更多詳情
Les ciels et les nuages constituent une obsession constante chez Ruskin tout au long de sa carrière. Profondément inspiré par J.M.W. Turner, il les étudie à différents moments de la journée et sous diverses conditions météorologiques, analysant les effets atmosphériques. Dans le premier volume de Modern Painters, publié en 1843, il écrit : ‘C’est une chose étrange de voir à quel point, en général, les gens connaissent peu le ciel. Il est pourtant la part de la création dans laquelle la nature a fait le plus pour plaire à l’homme, la part où elle s’est le plus clairement et ouvertement donné pour but de lui parler et de l’instruire, plus que dans n’importe laquelle de ses oeuvres. Et c’est précisément celle à laquelle nous prêtons le moins d’attention.’ (J. Ruskin, Modern Painters, vol.I, 1843, repris dans E.T. Cook et A. Wedderburn (éd.), The Works of John Ruskin, vol.III: Modern Painters, Londres, 1903, p.343.).Abbeville compte parmi les villes françaises favorites de Ruskin, qu’il visite à plusieurs reprises, la première fois en juin 1835 lors d’un voyage avec ses parents. Il est enchanté par l’architecture, et en particulier par la collégiale gothique flamboyante Saint-Vulfran, représentée ici. Il y revient pour quelques jours lors de son voyage de noces en 1848, puis à nouveau en 1868 lorsqu’il séjourne deux mois dans la ville pour dessiner les bâtiments et la campagne environnante. Il effectue un autre séjour de trois jours durant l’été 1880, et une dernière visite en juin 1888, lorsqu’il y passe un mois accompagné de son ami Arthur Severn. Restée inconnue jusqu’à sa vente en 2017, cette aquarelle semble vraisemblablement dater de l’un de ces deux derniers voyages, en 1880 ou en 1888.Une inscription sur un ancien montage indique que Ruskin offre ce dessin à Francesca Alexander (1837-1917), artiste amateur, traductrice et écrivaine américaine installée à Florence, qui devient l’une de ses plus proches amies à la fin de sa vie. Ils se rencontrent à Florence en 1882 et entament une correspondance qui se poursuit presque quotidiennement jusqu’à la mort de Ruskin en 1900.
Skies and clouds were obsessions of Ruskin's throughout his career. Heavily inspired by J.M.W. Turner, he studied them at different times of day and in different weather conditions, exploring atmospheric effects. In his first volume of Modern Painters, published in 1843, he wrote, 'It is a strange thing how little in general people know about the sky. It is the part of creation in which nature has done more for the sake of pleasing man, more for the sole and evident purpose of talking to him and teaching him, than in any other of her works, and it is just the part in which we least attend to her.' (J. Ruskin, Modern Painters, Vol. I, 1843, reprinted in E.T. Cook and A. Wedderburn, ed., The Works of John Ruskin, Vol. III: Modern Painters, London, 1903, p. 343.)Abbeville was one of Ruskin's favourite towns in France and he visited several times, firstly when travelling with his parents in June 1835. He was enchanted by the architecture, and particularly by the Late Gothic church of St Wulfran, seen in the present watercolour. He returned for a few days on his honeymoon in 1848, and again 1868 when he spent two months in the town drawing the buildings and surrounding countryside. He visited again for three days during the summer of 1880, and for a final time for a month in June 1888, accompanied by his friend Arthur Severn. Unknown until its sale in 2017, it seems likely that the present watercolour dates from one of his last two trips to Abbeville, in 1880 or 1888.An inscription on an old mount notes that this drawing was given by Ruskin to Francesca Alexander (1837-1917), an American-born amateur artist, translator, and writer living in Florence, who became one of his closest friends towards the end of his life. The two met in Florence in 1882, and began a written correspondence which continued almost daily until Ruskin’s death in 1900.
Skies and clouds were obsessions of Ruskin's throughout his career. Heavily inspired by J.M.W. Turner, he studied them at different times of day and in different weather conditions, exploring atmospheric effects. In his first volume of Modern Painters, published in 1843, he wrote, 'It is a strange thing how little in general people know about the sky. It is the part of creation in which nature has done more for the sake of pleasing man, more for the sole and evident purpose of talking to him and teaching him, than in any other of her works, and it is just the part in which we least attend to her.' (J. Ruskin, Modern Painters, Vol. I, 1843, reprinted in E.T. Cook and A. Wedderburn, ed., The Works of John Ruskin, Vol. III: Modern Painters, London, 1903, p. 343.)Abbeville was one of Ruskin's favourite towns in France and he visited several times, firstly when travelling with his parents in June 1835. He was enchanted by the architecture, and particularly by the Late Gothic church of St Wulfran, seen in the present watercolour. He returned for a few days on his honeymoon in 1848, and again 1868 when he spent two months in the town drawing the buildings and surrounding countryside. He visited again for three days during the summer of 1880, and for a final time for a month in June 1888, accompanied by his friend Arthur Severn. Unknown until its sale in 2017, it seems likely that the present watercolour dates from one of his last two trips to Abbeville, in 1880 or 1888.An inscription on an old mount notes that this drawing was given by Ruskin to Francesca Alexander (1837-1917), an American-born amateur artist, translator, and writer living in Florence, who became one of his closest friends towards the end of his life. The two met in Florence in 1882, and began a written correspondence which continued almost daily until Ruskin’s death in 1900.
榮譽呈獻
Antoine Lebouteiller
International Specialist