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Description: | Signed: yes Description: A rare example of a painting purchased by Southampton City Art Gallery which has not stood the careful scrutiny of scholarship. The attribution to Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) of Sea Piece at Honfleur was first doubted in 1954 by Douglas Cooper who commented that it looked as though it were §done by the local butcher§. Subsequently, Hélen Toussaint of the Louvre, in a letter (on file) of 1978, doubted the authenticity of the signature as well as being §generally uneasy§ about the attribution as a whole. At this time the painting was examined under ultra-violet light revealing the signature to have been added over the varnish (presumably to deceive), while magnification revealed the small ship in the background to have been added after the craquelure had formed. Forgeries of Courbet's landscapes, seascapes and still-lifes were particularly numerous on the art market after the artist's death when his pictures were highly sought after and rising rapidly in value. This painting represents a view across the sea. A small area of beach is visible in the left foreground, and a small boat is at centre left. The sea's low horizon line allows two-thirds of the picture area to be occupied by sky. Christopher Wright notes that its: §resemblance to Courbet's authentic seascapes is entirely superficial§. | Subjects: | France) marine; place (Honfleur | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Artist: Courbet, Gustave (French painter and designer, 1819-1877) Æ Attributed to manner of | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=8405... | Go to resource |
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