Oil, gouache and pencil on paper laid on canvas
Signed.

Provenance:Galerie Simonson, Paris
Lucien Lefebvre-Foinet, Paris (acquired from the above)
Carroll Carstairs Gallery (acquired from the above)
Sale: Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, March 16, 1944, N° 78, illustrated
Knoedler Galery, New York (acquired at the above sale)
Private collection of Josephine Abercrombie (acquired from the above on January 9, 1959)
Stanley D. Petter, Jr. (acquired from the Estate of Josephine Abercrombie, Pin Oak Stud, 2022)

Exhibition:1929 (November 5-20),

Paris, Galerie Simonson, Oeuvres par J.-F. Raffaelli, N° 60.Related work:Le Grand-Prix de Paris, 1906, engraving, 59 x 97.8 cm, illustrated nin: Loys Delteil, Le peintre graveur illustre, (XIXe et Xe siècles), Tome seizième, Jean-François Raffaelli, Paris, 1923, N° 74.

Born in France in 1850 to a bourgeoise family of Tuscan decent, Jean-François Raffaelli enjoyed a privileged upbringing until his teenage years, when his father's textile business failed and Jean- François was forced to fend for himself. Raffaelli is considered a "realist" by most art historians and by the art critics of his time, and while he had deep ties to the early Impressionist movement, Raffaelli did not consider himself a part of any one movement and rejected all attempts to classify his art. He believed that, above all, an artist's duty was to render the essence of the contemporary society in which he lived, stating: "My subject is all of Paris, I aim to paint the beauty of Paris as well as its wretchedness." He is primarily remembered for his depictions of the latter: "the wretched," the poor downtrodden peasants that populated Paris. Art critic Albert Wolff wrote: "Like Millet he [Raffaelli] is the poet of the humble. What the great master did for the fields, Raffaelli begins to do for the modest people of Paris. He shows them as they are, more often than not stupefied by life's hardships."

Raffaelli formed a friendship with Degas in the late 1870s, and at Degas' continued insistence he exhibited a large number of works at the Fifth and Sixth Expositions Impressionnistes in 1880 and 1881. Raffaelli's paintings, of which there were far more of than any other artist (44 in '80 and 34 in '81), were universally praised by the critics, while many of the other artists' entries were disregarded and even mocked. One critic wrote: "Quite apart I place Mr. Raffaelli whose research differs absolutely from that of the rest of the group. This one is, on the contrary, refined in detail, an outrageous rendering." Another critic articulated Raffaelli's divergence from the "impressionists" in these terms: "M. Raffaelli is a sincere artist who makes not an impression, but a deliberate kind of painting, very studied, finished, of compact design." Monet withheld his works from the '80/'81 exhibitions to protest Degas' insistence on Raffaelli's inclusion. Before the 1882 exhibition, Monet banded together with Caillebotte, Gauguin, and Guillaumin and told Degas that Raffaelli was out. Degas, Rouart, Cassatt, Forain, and Tillot resigned from the group in protest.

Le Grand Prix a Longchamp, painted circa 1906, is most certainly a deviation from the works for which Raffaelli is known, both in style and subject matter. The painting on offer could be classified as highly impressionistic; the viewer can see a touch of Monet's pallet, technique, and style in the trees bracketing the grandstand; the subject matter is reminiscent of Manet, Monet, and Forain. The use of color and light, and the way the image is cut off in the middle of the composition, are decidedly impressionistic traits. One can even see a bit of the Post-Impressionists' influences in the distorted forms of the horses and the almost pointillist manner in which Raffaelli handled the spectators in the grandstand. Perhaps the most noticeable difference between Le Grand Prix a Longchamp and many of Raffaelli's other notable works is the deviation in subject matter: Where are the "modest people of Paris," the wretched souls "stupefied by hardship?" We will allow Raffaelli to answer this question. The following comes from his foreword in the catalogue for an 1899 exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago, where Raffaelli had previously exhibited in 1894.

You will find what, perhaps, to you will be an indefinable change between my present work and that of a few years since. I desire to explain this change to you as I have explained it to myself. My life has not been an easy one, for I was brought up in luxury until I was fifteen, when within a few years my family lost its entire fortune and I became acquainted with the most grinding poverty. At that period, I painted with the greatest sincerity my hopelessness, my bitterness, my anger, my madness. It follows then that my art was a violent art, somber, bitter, hopeless. I was at that time consumed with the greatest pity and commiseration for those who had been defeated in the great battle of life. I passed several years in such a state of mind as could only inspire an art sad and vibrating with a generous pity.

But as the years rolled by they brought great changes into my life. First, my poverty was changed if not into immense riches at least into a comfortable independence. Then, too must I make the confession, my artistic successes have been such that all my bitterness has fled. Many of my pictures are in the best galleries in the world. The strange effects of my first trip to America, with its vivid impressions, must also be taken into account. I here discovered an unending hope for all men who have confidence in their own power. Why not also acknowledge that the success of my own efforts has brought me to believe in happiness. Since by sad sights my melancholy was not soothed, I was forced to supply by my art my great desire for charm, for beauty, grace, elegance, poetry, tenderness and the sweetness which could not flourish during my years of hardship. So that at this period I paint the portraits of young girls, the portraits of children, flowers, the sun light, all things pleasing.

So after all the storms of youth I have gradually arrived at some degree of serenity, with which it is so well to finish; it is the expression most suitable to the whitening beard. Thus, if life be a succession of accidents, it must be that the oftener they are overcome the less they move us. Why not confess that one finally is tempted to laugh at it all? Again, I say it is well, it is good to quit life in an amiable and generous fashion. It is the attitude of a man who has suffered, thought, loved, worked, in a word, lived, and who is none the vainer for it.

- November 9, 1899, JF Raffaelli

We thank Galerie Brame & Lorenceau for kingly confirming the authenticity of this work, which will be included in their forthcoming Jean-François Raffaelli computerized catalogue critique now in preparation.

Jean-François Raffaelli(French, 1850-1924)Born in Paris, Raffaelli first exhibited at the Salon in 1870 and in 1871 began his only formal training, studying under Jean-Leon Gerôme at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He maintained an early friendship with Edgar Degas that enabled him to exhibit with the Impressionists in 1880 and 1881, though this proved highly controversial within the group, given Raffaelli's grittier and realist style. He won the Legion d'honneur in 1889, and his later works focused on Parisian street scenes.

24 x 42 in