Lot Essay
By the mid-1860s, the fishing villages that had dotted the Normandy coast had been transformed into a newly created world of seaside resorts. Grand hotels, casinos and private villas replaced the humble fishing shacks that had represented a previous way of life for the working class. The seaside villages of Trouville, Deauville and Stainte Addresse became popular destinations for wealthy European vacationers. Also drawn to these new fashionable centers on the sea were artists who were searching for new subjects for their paintings, as well as seeking a wealthy clientele eager to purchase their works. Among those who visited in the 1860s were Monet, Boudin and Courbet, and the results of their visits may be seen in Monet's famous views of Sainte Addresse, Boudin's elegant figures on the beaches at Trouville and some of the most beautiful portraits ever painted by Courbet.
Courbet spent three months in Trouville between September and November 1865. He invited Monet, Camille, and the Boudins to Deauville in 1866, and four years later, he was a witness to Monet and Camille's wedding at Trouville. Judging from Courbet's correspondence, this was a happy and productive time. On 16 September 1865, he wrote to his friend, Urbain Cuenot, "I am here in Trouville in delightful circumstances. The Casino has given me a splendid apartment overlooking the sea and there I paint the portraits of the prettiest women in Trouville. I have already painted the portrait of the comtesse Karoly of Hungary. That portrait has had an unparalleled success. More than four hundred ladies came to see it and some ten of the most beautiful of them would like their own [painted]... I am gaining a reputation as a matchless portrait painter. The ladies I won't be able to do here will have themselves done this winter in Paris. That will give me an enormous clientele" (P. ten-Doesschate Chu, Letters of Gustave Courbet, Chicago, 1992, p. 267 op. cit., letter 65-15). On 17 November Courbet wrote the following to his family:
As usual, I went to Trouville for three days and stayed for three months. This time I did not play my cards wrong. I have doubled my reputation and have made the acquaintance of everyone who can be useful. I have received over two thousand ladies in my studio, all wishing to have their portraits painted after they saw the portrait of princess Karoly... (ibid., p. 268, letter 65-16).
Courbet painted the strikingly beautiful Hungarian Countess (Princess?) Karoly in Deauville in 1865. She was one of his earliest portraits posed against the sea. The luminous setting of sand, sea and sky would also provide the backdrop for many of Courbet's most important paintings from this sojourn on the Normandy coast: The Girl with Seagulls (Private Collection), Count de Choiseul's Greyhounds (The Saint Louis Art Museum), Lady with a Parasol (fig. 1), and The Portrait of M. Nodler the Elder (Smith College Museum of Art, Massachussetts).
Countess Karoly is dressed in the latest fashions of the day. She wears a pale yellow dress embroidered with delicate blue flowers, and is wrapped in a luxurious shawl which provides warmth against the ocean breezes of late summer. Courbet was a master of evoking textures--both natural and man-made--and the vigorous brushwork depicting the surface of the shawl bears a striking resemblance to the rugged terrain of his landscapes. On her head, the Countess wears a stylish plumed hat of blue and white feathers and here, Courbet blends the feathers with her hair in a technique reminiscent of one of his greatest paintings from this period, The Girl with Seagulls (Private Collection) where the wings of the birds merge with the long hair of the young girl.
It is interesting to note that while Boudin, Monet and Courbet were all painting on the Normandy coast in 1865, they each found their own voice. Courbet never integrated the activities of the resort communities into his compositions, as did Boudin and Monet. For Courbet, the sea alone became his subject, or he used it as a backdrop, almost as a stage, for the portraits of his sitters, such as the Countess Karoly. One might also speculate that the Countess and the other aristocrats whose portraits Courbet painted in Trouville and Deauville re-appeared as the anonymous characters in Boudin's paintings.
(fig. 1) Gustave Courbet, Lady with a Parasol, 1865
Art Gallery, Glasgow
Courbet spent three months in Trouville between September and November 1865. He invited Monet, Camille, and the Boudins to Deauville in 1866, and four years later, he was a witness to Monet and Camille's wedding at Trouville. Judging from Courbet's correspondence, this was a happy and productive time. On 16 September 1865, he wrote to his friend, Urbain Cuenot, "I am here in Trouville in delightful circumstances. The Casino has given me a splendid apartment overlooking the sea and there I paint the portraits of the prettiest women in Trouville. I have already painted the portrait of the comtesse Karoly of Hungary. That portrait has had an unparalleled success. More than four hundred ladies came to see it and some ten of the most beautiful of them would like their own [painted]... I am gaining a reputation as a matchless portrait painter. The ladies I won't be able to do here will have themselves done this winter in Paris. That will give me an enormous clientele" (P. ten-Doesschate Chu, Letters of Gustave Courbet, Chicago, 1992, p. 267 op. cit., letter 65-15). On 17 November Courbet wrote the following to his family:
As usual, I went to Trouville for three days and stayed for three months. This time I did not play my cards wrong. I have doubled my reputation and have made the acquaintance of everyone who can be useful. I have received over two thousand ladies in my studio, all wishing to have their portraits painted after they saw the portrait of princess Karoly... (ibid., p. 268, letter 65-16).
Courbet painted the strikingly beautiful Hungarian Countess (Princess?) Karoly in Deauville in 1865. She was one of his earliest portraits posed against the sea. The luminous setting of sand, sea and sky would also provide the backdrop for many of Courbet's most important paintings from this sojourn on the Normandy coast: The Girl with Seagulls (Private Collection), Count de Choiseul's Greyhounds (The Saint Louis Art Museum), Lady with a Parasol (fig. 1), and The Portrait of M. Nodler the Elder (Smith College Museum of Art, Massachussetts).
Countess Karoly is dressed in the latest fashions of the day. She wears a pale yellow dress embroidered with delicate blue flowers, and is wrapped in a luxurious shawl which provides warmth against the ocean breezes of late summer. Courbet was a master of evoking textures--both natural and man-made--and the vigorous brushwork depicting the surface of the shawl bears a striking resemblance to the rugged terrain of his landscapes. On her head, the Countess wears a stylish plumed hat of blue and white feathers and here, Courbet blends the feathers with her hair in a technique reminiscent of one of his greatest paintings from this period, The Girl with Seagulls (Private Collection) where the wings of the birds merge with the long hair of the young girl.
It is interesting to note that while Boudin, Monet and Courbet were all painting on the Normandy coast in 1865, they each found their own voice. Courbet never integrated the activities of the resort communities into his compositions, as did Boudin and Monet. For Courbet, the sea alone became his subject, or he used it as a backdrop, almost as a stage, for the portraits of his sitters, such as the Countess Karoly. One might also speculate that the Countess and the other aristocrats whose portraits Courbet painted in Trouville and Deauville re-appeared as the anonymous characters in Boudin's paintings.
(fig. 1) Gustave Courbet, Lady with a Parasol, 1865
Art Gallery, Glasgow