A Forest Scene, Val d’Aosta, Purtud, c. 1907

Provenance

The artist
Sale, Christie’s, London, The Artist’s Studio, July 24 and 27, 1925, lot 46 (as A Forest Scene, Val D’Aosta, Purtud, 1909)
David Croal Thomson, London, acquired from above
Lieutenant-Colonel Herbert H. Spender-Clay
Pauline Spender-Clay, by descent from above, 1937
By descent from above, 1970
Christie’s, London, United Kingdom, November 28, 1996, lot 63
Private collection, New York

Literature

H.G.T Cannons, Art prices current: a record of sale prices at Christies’ during the season (London: Offices of the Fine Art Trade Journal, Maxwell House, October 1925, 409.

Christie, Manson & Woods, London, Pictures and Drawings of the Late J.S. Sargent, R.A. Illustrated Catalogue on July 24 & 27, 1925, 7, no. 46.

William Howe Downes, John S. Sargent, his life and work, with an exhaustive catalogue of his works (Thornton Butterworth, 1926), 320.

Ormond and E. Kilmurray, John Singer Sargent: Figures and Landscapes, 1901-1907, vol. VII (New Haven, Connecticut, 2012), 314, 369, cat. no. 1433, illustrated.

Ormond and E. Kilmurray, John Singer Sargent: Venetian Figures and Landscapes, 1898-1913, Complete Paintings: Volume VI (New Haven, Connecticut, 2012), 100, 270.

This painting has been authenticated and is included in the John Singer Sargent Catalogue Raisonné.

Related Works

Forest Scene, watercolor and opaque watercolor with scraping, over traces of graphite wove paper mounted on board, 12¹⁄₁₆× 18 ⅛ inches; The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

The Hermit (Il solitario), 1908, oil on canvas, 37¾ x 38 inches, signed: S. Sargent; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York

Val d’Aosta, 1908-10, oil on canvas, 36½ x 38½ inches, signed lower left: John S. Sargent; The Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom

Val d’Aosta (A Stream over Rocks; Stream in Val d’Aosta), ca. 1907–1908, oil on canvas, 21 5/8 x 27 ½ inches, stamped verso: JSS (on lining canvas); The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York

Note

Sargent’s Val d’Aosta paintings demonstrate his innovative translation of the fluid, luminous qualities of watercolor into oil, capturing the brilliance of light and atmosphere with remarkable immediacy. Created during his prolific summers in the region between 1904 and 1910 while living in London, these works mark a departure from formal portraiture, revealing his deep engagement with nature and a freer, more experimental approach to painting.

A Forest Scene, Val d’ Aosta, Purtud was one of five watercolors purchased in 1925 by Colonel Herbert Spender-Clay and his wife, Pauline Astor. Pauline, the daughter of William Waldorf Astor and Mary Dahlgren Paul of Philadelphia, moved with her family to London in 1891. There, the Astors became prominent members of English society, acquiring two grand estates, Cliveden House and Hever Castle. The Spender-Clays resided at Ford Manor, Lingfield, Surrey and in London. One of their three daughters later married Sir David Bowes-Lyon, brother of Queen Elizabeth.

A previous owner of this work, Croal Thomson, proprietor of the prestigious Barbizon House in London, was a highly influential art critic, biographer, and journalist, and a friend of Paul Cézanne.

Sargent’s work is represented in the world’s most prestigious museums, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Tate in London, the Louvre in Paris, and the Uffizi in Florence, among many others.