Signed 'Luce' bottom left, oil on board with original preparer's stencil verso
18 7/8 x 26 3/8 in. (47.9 x 67cm)
Executed circa 1925.

Provenance

Sotheby's, London, sale of October 19, 1988, lot 158.
Vente Pillon, Calais, sale of February 26, 1989.
Holz-Artles Maison de Ventes, Arles, sale of October 1st, 1989.
Rossini Paris, Paris, sale of June 15, 2004, lot 43.
Kahn & Associés, Paris, sale of November 29, 2004, lot 22.
Acquired directly from the above sale.
Private Collection, Connecticut.

Literature

Jean Bouin-Luce, Denise Bazetoux, Maximilien Luce: Catalogue Raisonné de l'Oeuvre Peint, Volume III, Éditions JBL, Paris, p. 278, no. 1387 (illustrated).

Note

Luce first visited Rolleboise, a pretty little village on the Seine between Bonnières and Mantes, in 1917. As Denise Bazetoux states, “it was love at first sight between the painter and the village built in terraces on the hillside.” While Luce first rented a room in the village, he quickly grew fond of the surroundings and eventually bought a house near the local church. This marked the beginning of what scholars describe as The Rolleboise Period, a moment of sheer joy for the artist, which highly contrasts with Luce’s earlier industrial landscapes, and to a larger extent with the horrors of World War I. According to Jean Texcier, "In Rolleboise, Luce painted his most serene and harmonious works, which carry on the great tradition of French landscape painting. They make him the heir of Poussin in the layout and rhythm of his compositions, and of Corot, in that poetry of matter which gives each of his paintings that admirable resonance which affects our innermost feelings".

The present work depicts a nearby farmyard, where two peasant women are seen hard at work near a cart filled with freshly collected hay. The scene is captured in a bold palette and a loose style, showing Luce’s care and attention towards such common scenes and people, whose quiet company and humble simplicity he enjoyed the most.