Pierre-Justin OUVRIÉ
(Paris 1806 - Rouen 1879)
A View of the Saint-Louis Hospital from the Canal Saint Martin, Paris
Pencil and watercolour. Signed with the artist’s initials J.O. and inscribed on recto and verso. 169 x 265 mm. (6 5/8 x 10 3/8 in.)
Despite the presence of a vente stamp, the present sheet does not appear in the catalogues of either of the two known auctions of paintings and drawings from the artist’s studio, the first held in Paris on 18-19 February 1859 and the second on 21 December 1874.
A student of Abel de Pujol and Chatillon, Justin Ouvrié exhibited both landscape paintings and town views at the Salon between 1831 (when he won a second class medal) and 1873. (His work was also included in several of the Dutch exhibitions of Works by Living Masters between 1849 and 1870.) Ouvrié’s exhibited work was made up primarily of paintings, drawings and lithographs of landscapes and city views, produced during his extensive travels throughout France and elsewhere in Europe; notably in Germany, Holland, Belgium and Italy, as well as views in England and Scotland. He also provided illustrations for his uncle Baron Taylor’s monumental series of Voyages pittoresques et romantiques dans l’ancienne France, published between 1820 and 1878. Ouvrié was particularly admired for his watercolours, some of which sold for higher prices than his paintings. Among his patrons was Louis-Philippe, who acquired a large number of Ouvrie’s works.
Provenance
The Ouvrié atelier, Paris, with the vente stamp (Lugt 2002a) at the lower left
Paul Prouté, Paris
Curtis Otto Baer, New Rochelle, New York (Lugt 3366)
By descent to his son, George M. Baer, Atlanta, Georgia
Thence by descent until 2010.
Literature
Eric M. Zafran, Master Drawings from Titian to Picasso: The Curtis O. Baer Collection, exhibition catalogue, Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, and elsewhere, 1985-1987, p.191, no.161.