Details
ALBERT EDELFELT (FINNISH, 1854-1905)
Blommande hagtorn (Vy från Chantilly).
signed with initials, inscribed and dated 'AE/Chantilly/20 juin 86' (lower left)
oil on panel
1614 x 1212 in. (42 x 32 cm.)
Provenance
Annie & Berta Edelfelt (sisters of the artist), by descent from the artist.
with Galerie Hörhammer, Helsinki, by whom acquired from the above.
Alvar Bergroth, Helsinki, by whom acquired from the above.
Thence by descent to his daughter, Annikki Bergroth, 1955.
Thence by descent to the present owners.
Literature
B. Hintze, Albert Edelfelt, Helsinki, 1942, vol. III, p. 81, no. 368 (illustrated p.80; fragment illustrated p. 8).
L. Ahtola-Moorhouse, Albert Edelfelt 1854-1905, Helsinki, 2004, pp. 338, 348-49, as: ‘'Kukkivia orapihlajia (Näköala Chantillysta)'.
Exhibited
Helsinki, Edelfelt exhibition, October-November 1886.
Helsinki, Ateneum, Edelfelt, February 1902.
Turku, 12th annual exhibition of the Turku Art Society, March 1902, no. 10, as: 'Blommande trän'.
Special notice
Please note this lot is the property of a consumer. See H1 of the Conditions of Sale.
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Lot Essay

In 1886 Albert Edelfelt climbed to the “peak of his international career” (Timo Huusko and Rainer Knapas, Albert Edelfelt, Helsinki, 2004, p.309). Having painted his iconic image of Louis Pasteur the year before, Edelfelt had a new audience. He now sought out more challenging artistic endeavours. In March 1886 he painted on the French Riviera, in April he met Emile Zola and began work on his celebrated impressionistic The Luxembourg Gardens, Paris (now in the collection of the Ateneum, Helsinki). In June he visited the country estate of the writer Henri Amic in Chantilly to continue working on this grand painting. Edelfelt had met Amic a year before in Malmö, on the train journey from Stockholm to Paris. We know from the letters shared between the artist and the writer that it was at Amic’s country house, Chateau des Bouleaux, where work on The Luxembourg Gardens, Paris was not moving at Edelfelt’s desired pace because he was so distracted by painting the flowering trees of Chantilly. A letter from the garden's to Alexandra, Edelfelt's mother, describes painting the flowering blossom. Notably, the surrounding trees play a key part in the composition of The Luxembourg Gardens, Paris, and in his studies for the palace and gardens, one of which is now in the Malmö Kunstmuseum. He would take this particular painting depicting a flowering Hawthorn tree back with him to Helsinki to display in his solo exhibition later in the year.

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