THÉOBALD CHARTRAN (1849-1907) - Receive artist alerts » - More items from this artist »

oil on canvas

Signed lower left: Chartran

47.00inch wide    35.75inch high    (119.38 cm wide  90.80 cm high)

53.00inch framed width   42.00inch framed height (134.62 cm framed width  106.68 cm framed height)

Private Collection, France

The present work was most likely completed on one of Chartran’s trips to America between 1895 and 1907. We know that Chartran made trips to New York during this period: a portrait of Andrew Carnegie is inscribed NY 1895 and a portrait of Mrs. Thomas Mellon is inscribed NY 1896 (Carnegie Museum of Art), a work entitled La Promenade-a portrait of Miss Eliza Conkling is signed Chartran N.Y. ’99 (private collection), a portrait of Matthew Chaloner Durfee Borden is inscribed NY 1901 (Yale University Art Gallery) and a pair of portraits, of Harriet White Bradbury and of George Robert White, are signed Chartran N.Y. 1904 (Boston Museum of Fine Arts).
The view is of Lower Manhattan and the South Street Seaport from the Brooklyn Bridge. Identifiable amongst the mass of buildings that make up the hazy skyline are the Syndicate Building, Produce Exchange, Cotton Exchange, National City Bank Building, Pulitzer World Building and Manhattan Life Insurance Buildings. Primarily a portraitist, Chartran moved away from the bold brushwork of his portrait style, adopting a thin, ébauche-like wash for his portrayal of the urban landscape. The thin, transparent layers of paint give the work a drawing-like feel, highlighted by touches of white impasto that give the effect of city lights twinkling through smog. The work is reminiscent of the painting style that Jean François Raffaëlli employed for his numerous urban views along the Seine. It is not surprising that Chartran turned to the work of Raffaëlli, the foremost painter of the French urban landscape, for guidance in this portrayal of the New York’s industrial seaport.