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Lot Essay
Since 1878, Isaac Israels and his family annually visited Paris for the Salon des Artistes. Here he became well informed with new artistic movements and innovative artists in Paris, such as Emile Zola, Morisot, Redon, Toulouse-Lautrec and others. He succesfully exhibited in Paris from 1882, and during a longer stay in 1889, when he was accompanied by his good friend and writer Frans Erens (1857-1935), he met several of the up-and-coming generation of writers. It is no surprise that, after having lived in Amsterdam, he permanently moved to Paris in 1903, where he lived for the next ten years. One of the reasons of his moving to Paris was Hirsch & Cie, a prestigious couturier based on the Leidseplein in Amsterdam, who had arranged permission for him to go and paint at Paquin's, one of the leading Paris fashion houses. As such, he was no stranger at fashion house Paquin on Rue de la Paix and Décroll on Place de l'Opera, painting mannequins and other scenes within the Parisian fashion industry. He painted Paris and its boulevards from his lofty studio. At first he lived in Hotel Le Peletier in the Rue des Petits Champs, close to the galleries of Durand-Ruel. Around 1907 he repeatedly painted the sloping Rue de Clignancourt at the junction with Boulevard de Rochechouart and the Rue Castiglione, where Isaac stayed at the Hotel Continental. His palette is more "French" then that of his Amsterdam - or Hague oeuvre. Skilful he records the swarming of waggons, carriages, carts and pedestrians in a sunlit Rue de Clignancourt, the passers-by on the Rue de Rivoli and the fashionable young women on the Champs Elysees.
The present lot shows a portrait of a Parisienne wearing a hat on a balcony, which is another recurring theme in his work. These portraits are among the best and most appreciated paintings by Israels. Although he has repeatedly painted from this very balcony, it remains uncertain as to which balcony it was. The present lot was arguably painted on a balcony on Rue Clignancourt, yet the exact location remains unknown. It has also been stated that this painting's location is Rue de Castiglione.
Please compare this lot to a similar oil painting 'Rue Clignancourt' by the same hand, sold in these rooms on 17 November 2010, lot 66 (fig. 1).
The present lot shows a portrait of a Parisienne wearing a hat on a balcony, which is another recurring theme in his work. These portraits are among the best and most appreciated paintings by Israels. Although he has repeatedly painted from this very balcony, it remains uncertain as to which balcony it was. The present lot was arguably painted on a balcony on Rue Clignancourt, yet the exact location remains unknown. It has also been stated that this painting's location is Rue de Castiglione.
Please compare this lot to a similar oil painting 'Rue Clignancourt' by the same hand, sold in these rooms on 17 November 2010, lot 66 (fig. 1).