Live Auction 2852Impressionist and Modern Art
Matthijs Maris (1839-1917)
Lot 11

Matthijs Maris (1839-1917)

The four mills

Closed17 November 2010

Price Realised

EUR 205,000

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Matthijs Maris (1839-1917)
The four mills
signed with initials and dated 'M.M. 71.' (lower right)
oil on canvas
23 x 31 cm.

Kunsthandel Goupil & Cie., Paris, 1871, inv.no. 5716, as: les Moulins.
The Viscount Powerscourt, 1872.
The Honourable Sir John C. Day, London, 1907; his Sale; Christie's, London, 13 May 1909, lot 77 (GBP 3.300).
Mr. A. Reid, Glasgow.
Mr. M. Sadler, Oxford, probably 1929.
Mr. I.M. Reid, Scotland, 1965.

Specialist note

After a difficult time in The Hague, Matthijs Maris joined his brother Jacob in Paris in 1869. During his stay in the French capital, the artist was forced to support himself financially and started to paint on a regular basis. Though he loathed painting for commercial purposes, Matthijs executed some of his most successful works during his Paris period ('Souvenir d'Amsterdam' (Rijksmuseum), 'Keukenmeisje' (Rijksmuseum H.W. Mesdag) and 'De Vlinders' (The Burrel Collection). The present lot was painted in 1871, the same year as 'Souvenir d'Amsterdam' in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, and was also painted from memory. It depicts the four mills in The Hague, near the Loosduinsebrug near the house of Maris' parents. It shows a broad canal with a bridge and a street (Westeinde) in The Hague. A French influence is clearly visible in the depiction of the village.