CAMILLE PISSARRO (Charlotte-Amélie, 1830 – Paris, 1903) - Portrait of the artist Ludovic Piette in front of his easel (1861)

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GRAND MARCH AUCTION OF OLD MASTERS AND COLONI...

By Templum Fine Art Auctions

Mar 25, 2026

Set Reminder 2026-03-25 10:00:00 2026-03-25 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : GRAND MARCH AUCTION OF OLD MASTERS AND COLONIAL ART https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/templum-fine-art-auctions/grand-march-auction-of-old-masters-and-colonial-art-22766
AUCTION · 25 MARCH · 3:00 PM EXHIBITION OPEN FROM 13 MARCH Templum Fine Art Auctions info@templumauctions.com

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• Lot Description
  Oil on canvas. Dimensions: 53.3 x 37.5 cm. Signed and dated in the lower left corner: C. Pissarro '61. In this rare and intimate portrait, Camille Pissarro depicts his friend and colleague Ludovic Piette working in his studio, seated in a simple chair with his palette in hand. The scene, captured naturally and without artifice, belongs to an early period in the artist's career, before the official birth of Impressionism, when his painting still showed a close relationship with the poetic realism of Corot and Courbet. The work already reveals some of the qualities that would define all his subsequent production: attention to light, the spontaneity of gesture, and an interest in the truth of everyday life. Pissarro does not create an official portrait here, but rather a direct and intimate image, in which the sitter's concentration and the studio atmosphere lend the whole a great sense of authenticity. Ludovic Piette, also a painter, was one of Pissarro's closest friends, with whom he maintained a voluminous correspondence. Therefore, this portrait also possesses a clear biographical value within the artist's inner circle. Provenance: Gifted by the artist to Ludovic Piette, Melleray, France; Mlle. Fanny Levy, Paris; sale, Galerie Motte, Geneva, July 2, 1971, no. 333; sale, Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, November 28, 1973, lot 21; Dr. and Mrs. Jordan H. Trafimow, United States; RS Johnson Fine Art, Chicago, acquired from the above in 2000; acquired there on January 1, 2001, and subsequently by family descendants. Exhibitions: Paris, Galerie Dru, Peinture et gouaches de L. Piette, March 2–25, 1929; Chicago, RS Johnson Fine Art, Pissarro to Picasso, A Selection of Paintings, Drawings and Bronzes, 1995, no. 1; Chicago, RS Johnson Fine Art, Seurat to Picasso, 1998, no. 2. Bibliography: Ludovic-Rodo Pissarro and Lionello Venturi, Camille Pissarro, son art-son oeuvre, Paris, 1939, vol. I, no. 25; Ralph E. Shikes and Paula Harper, Pissarro, His Life and Work, London, ...
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