Claude Monet (1840-1926) Divers bateaux
stamped with signature 'Claude Monet' (Lugt 1819b; lower right)
pencil on paper
9 x 12 1/8 in. (22.9 x 30.7 cm.)
Executed in 1857
Claude Monet (1840-1926) Divers bateaux
stamped with signature 'Claude Monet' (Lugt 1819b; lower right)
pencil on paper
9 x 12 1/8 in. (22.9 x 30.7 cm.)
Executed in 1857
Estate of the artist. Michel Monet, Giverny (by descent from the above). Rolande Verneiges, France (gift from the above). By descent from the above to the present owner.
C. Greenberg, 'The Later Monet' inArt News Annual, 1957, p. 132 (illustrated without the stamp). W. C. Seitz, Claude Monet, New York, 1960, no. 66 (illustrated without the stamp). R. Cogniat, Monet, Paris, 1969, p. 12 (illustrated without the stamp). D. Wildenstein, Claude Monet, Catalogue raisonné, Lausanne, 1991, vol. V, p. 69, no. D 52 (illustrated without the stamp). Y. Taillandier, Monet, New York, 1993, p. 14 (illustrated without the stamp). J. A. Ganz and R. Kendall, The Unknown Monet, Pastels and Drawings, exh. cat., Williamstown and London, 2007, p. 21, no. D52 (illustrated without the stamp, p. 29).
In comparison with other drawings from the 1857 sketchbook, Divers bateaux encapsulates many different aspects of Claude Monet’s style of draftsmanship. His meticulous depiction of sailing boats on the Normandy coast, many of which he most likely saw in the harbor at Le Havre, along with his passion for the sea, earned him the nickname the “Raphaello of water” from Édouard Manet. Far more than the caricatures or the children’s portraits, the present work also testifies to the importance of academic drawing in traditional artistic training in France. Indeed, draftsmanship was a mandatory subject in primary and secondary schools in the Nineteenth Century.
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