Maurice Denis (1870-1943)
Lot 430

Maurice Denis (1870-1943)

Couvent de Novodievitchi

Closed21 June 2018

Price Realised

GBP 62,500

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Maurice Denis (1870-1943)
Couvent de Novodievitchi
signed 'MAV.DENIS' (lower right)
oil on canvas laid down on panel
11 1/2 x 15 1/2 in. (29.1 x 39.5 cm.)
Painted in 1909

The artist's studio.
Anne-Marie Poncet, Switzerland, and thence by descent.
Galerie Vallotton, Lausanne, by whom acquired from the above in May 1946.
Private collection, France, by whom acquired from the above in July 1946, and thence by descent to the present owner.

Specialist note

This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné by Claire Denis et Fabienne Stahl.

Maurice Denis travelled to Moscow in January 1909 to overview the installation of the large decorative Psyché panels that he had recently completed for the music room of Ivan Morosov’s private home located 21, Pretchistenka Street, in Moscow (now part of the Hermitage Museum’s collections in Saint Petersburg). He describes the Novodievitchi convent as follows: “the tower is slightly Chinese. The pink front door pavilion, the white walls inside and the red squared towers have something of the Renaissance and of Venitia" (quoted in Journal, Paris, 1957, vol. II, p. 103).