Beschreibung:

Constant Troyon (French, 1810-1865) Le Canal alternatively titled 'La Petitie ecluse" Signed and dated "TROYON.1860." l.l., with a wax seal from Collection Sedelmeyer, Paris, on the stretcher, inscribed "N. 103" on the stretcher, identified in a label from Arthur Tooth and Sons Ltd, London, on the back of the frame. Oil on canvas, 18 1/4 x 22 in. (46.4 x 56.0 cm), framed. Condition: Lined, scattered retouch, craquelure. Provenance: Sedelmeyer, Paris; Weeks, Brookline, Mass.; Walter P. Chrysler, Jun..; Hazlitt Gallery, London; Leggatt Brothers, London; The Earl of Inchcape; Artemis Fine Arts (UK) Ltd., London; Edward J. Searles, Toledo, Ohio; by descent in the family to the current owner. Exhibitions: London, Hazlitt Gallery, Barbizon exhibition, 1956, no. 2. N.B. Constant Troyon was born in Sèvres and began his career as a painter of porcelain, following family tradition. By the 1830s he had abandoned this path for a life as a landscape painter, making his debut at the Salon of 1833. Troyon became one of the central artists of the Barbizon school. By 1840 he was painting with Théodore Rousseau and Jules Dupré and in 1844 he submitted two views of Fontainebleau to the Salon. Troyon enjoyed great success as a painter, winning acceptance into many expositions in France and abroad. In 1847 Troyon made a seminal trip to Holland, which would change the course of his art. Inspired by the Dutch artists, Troyon refocused his work on animals painted in the natural landscape, and he earned renown as an animalier. He was awarded the French Legion of Honor in 1849. He lived mostly in Normandy and Paris, except for short trips to England and the Low Countries. The painting Le Canal is also described as La Petite Écluse. Constant Troyon died unexpectedly in 1865, and the Salon of 1866 paid tribute to his career. A Certificate of Authenticity from Cabinet Michel Rodrigue accompanies this lot.