Ernest Ange Duez (1843-1896) - Elegant By The Sea (villerville?) - Grisaille On Cardboard

A very interesting gouache by this famous painter, exhibited in numerous museums, including the Musée d'Orsay. A close friend of John Singer Sargent, and a friend of Alphonse de Neuville, Augustin Feyen-Perrin, Édouard Detaille, André Gill, and Ulysse Butin. He was a studio neighbor of Édouard Manet, of whom he was an active admirer. One of the founders of the Société National des Beaux-Arts. This grisaille on cardboard, depicting an elegant woman at the seaside, bears two signatures engraved intaglio in the lower right corner. The explanation is annotated in pencil on the back: "To be cleaned, reproduce the signature above." This indicates that the lower signature (very clear and incisive) is indeed that of the artist, while the second, slightly more hesitant, is later, perhaps that of the "restorer." Indeed, the cardboard being slightly damaged at the bottom, a restoration seems to have been considered. A slight pencil mark in the sky also seems to indicate a desire to reframe the work. This gouache reflects the artist's typical representations of his work in Villerville, Normandy. It is also annotated on the back, "The sea was there waiting for him...", in a different handwriting than the aforementioned annotation. Loss and wear on the first 5 centimeters at the bottom of the cardboard. A few tiny losses and wear on the rest of the work. All visible in the photos. Dimensions: 34.5 x 27 cm