Edouard Pail (1851-1916) Landscape With Heather, Creuse. Impressionist, Crozant Pouget School

A very pretty canvas by Edouard Pail depicting a heathland landscape around 1900, signed lower left. I am including an old invoice from the Gargilesse gallery; the work was sold for €3000. The canvas measures 38 x 55 cm and 54.5 x 71.5 cm including the frame. This is therefore another post-Impressionist work by Edouard Pail, who here paints a heathland landscape, most likely in the Creuse or Nièvre region. Painted around 1895/1900, this work by Pail employs his usual style, more Impressionist than in his early career when he was more closely associated with the Barbizon School. He is undoubtedly one of the emblematic painters of the Crozant School. Édouard Pail, born in Corbigny on October 17, 1851, and died in Villeneuve-le-Roi on December 6, 1916, is a key French painter of the renowned Crozant School. His contemporaries included Didier Pouget and Anglade, but Pail's painting is, I believe, more refined than theirs. He was the son of a painter from Piedmont and a mother from his hometown of Corbigny (Nièvre). He was a student of the local painter and engraver Hippolyte Lavoignat, a friend of Camille Corot, and studied at the Nevers School of Fine Arts. He exhibited two landscapes at the Paris Salon of 1870: *The Varennes Stream near Corbigny* and *The Thatched Cottages of Corbigny*. In 1877, he became a professor at the Nevers School of Fine Arts. He then left this position to move to Paris in 1880. He subsequently traveled to England, Egypt, Palestine, and Algeria. He married in Algeria in 1886 before settling permanently in Paris, first on Boulevard du Montparnasse, then in the Passage Saulnier. He nevertheless returned to Corbigny regularly, where he enjoyed working during the warmer months. Each year, he exhibited works with rustic subjects at the Paris Salon, such as *The Elder of the Plain*, *Geese in the Morning at Pâtis Poux in Corbigny*, and *The Stream of Cropigny*. In 1888, he became a member of the Salon des Artistes Français. He received a medal in 1893. In 1896, he was named an Officer of the Academy. In 1903, he became an Officer of Public Instruction. At the 1912 Salon, he exhibited "Evening at Mont Sabot" and at the 1914 Salon, "The Heather Pond." His paintings primarily depicted landscapes of the Nivernais region, rendered in the style of the Crozant school, to which he belonged, having frequented the Creuse Valley. He practiced plein air painting. His favorite subjects were pastures and heaths, farmyards, shaded rivers, and pink and misty panoramas. They were rendered in bold tones and a palette dominated by greens and browns. His works are found in numerous French museums. This painting on canvas is in very good condition and comes in a beautiful antique carved and gilt frame. The work is guaranteed authentic.