1315 - Théodore Gudin (1802, Paris – 1880, Boulogne-sur-Seine)

Théodore Gudin (1802, Paris – 1880, Boulogne-sur-Seine) Moonlit Landscape with Fishermen on the Beach and a Bright Evening Star in the Sky A large-format masterpiece, impressive for its play of light, from Gudin’s most productive period; he often painted coastlines bathed in moonlight. The most internationally renowned marine painter of the first half of the 19th century attended the Naval Academy and served in the fledgling U.S. Navy beginning in 1819, before deciding in 1822 to return to Paris to become an artist. He later wrote in his posthumously published memoirs: “I was a sailor; I was a marine painter. I believe marine painting is a genre all its own that requires special study. To paint the sea, one must have sailed. Only after living the life of a sailor does a marine painter master his art.” As early as his debut in 1822, he caused a sensation with his seascapes at the Paris Salon, where he successfully exhibited for many decades thereafter. Beginning in the 1830s and 1840s, he received numerous commissions from King Louis Philippe of France, Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, and later also Emperor Napoleon III. In 1841, Gudin became an officer in the French Legion of Honor, and in Berlin in 1845 he received the Order “Pour le Mérite.” However, Gudin, an Anglophile, also exhibited his paintings at the Royal Academy and the British Institution in London. Oil on canvas; signed and dated 1841 in the lower right. 66 cm x 99 cm. Framed. Provenance: Dorotheum, Vienna, April 16, 2013, Lot 34; private collections, Denmark and Switzerland. Oil on canvas. Signed and dated 1841.