Jules Achille NOËL (Nançy 1815-1881 Mustapha)
View of the port of Le Havre
Signed located and dated 1872 lower left
Oil on canvas, 18.11 x 26.18 in (46 x 66,5cm) SOLD
PROVENANCE
- New-York, Christie's, October 30th, 2001, lot 11;
- London, Willow Gallery;
- Private collection;
- France, private collection until May 2021.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Unpublished
THE ARTIST
Landscape and marine painter, Jules Noël, or Jules Achille Noël, whose real name is Louis Assez Noël, was born in Nancy in 1815 and died in Algeria in 1881.
He painted on the motif in Brittany and Normandy.
His father being from Lorraine and his mother from Plougasnou, he spent part of his childhood in Quimper where his father, a teacher, taught him drawing. He trained at the Charioux academy in Brest.
He taught drawing in Saint-Pol-de-Léon, then in Lorient and then resided in Nantes from 1839 to 1843.
He works in the region of his in-laws between Auray and Hennebont, but also frequents the port cities of Douarnenez, Brest, Quimper, Morlaix and Landerneau. He then appeared at the Paris Salon until 1879. His style can be compared to that of Eugène Isabey. In his detailed paintings, he treats the effects of light with a sensitivity close to those of Eugène Boudin and Johan Barthold Jongkind.
He enjoyed great success during his lifetime. In 1846, Baudelaire celebrated this artist for his clear line and bright colors. Marked by romanticism, he is however constantly preoccupied by an obstinate search for the rendering of light, without however passing the course which would bring him closer to the Impressionists.
The Musée de Quimper, in collaboration with the Musée de Dieppe, presents the first monographic exhibition devoted to the artist in 2005. Another exhibition previously organized by the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen from June 20 to September 15, 1999, on the theme "Around Claude-Joseph Vernet, the sailing navy from 1650 to 1890", highlighted Jules Noël.
THE WORK
Jules Noël has to his credit a whole series of paintings representing the ports of Brittany and Normandy, including ours which comes from his period of full maturity. Its lower part is treated with small superimposed touches which give back with greenish reflections and in a masterly way the shine of water. The quality of this canvas is a perfect illustration of the artist's best, it is undoubtedly one of the most accomplished works among those currently listed, in line with his paintings representing the ports of Brest and Fécamp.
- Jules Noël, 1864, The port of Brest, canvas, 120 x 147 cm, Brest, Musée des Beaux-Arts;
- Jules Noël, signed, located and dated Fécamp 1875 lower right, Fécamp le Port, canvas, 38 x 55.5 cm, Fécamp, Center-des-Arts museum;
- Jules Noël, 1877, The port of Fécamp, canvas, 27 x 38 cm, Nevers, Frédéric Blandin municipal museum;
- Jules Noël, signed and dated 1874, View of the port of Trépord, canvas, 38 x 54 cm, location unknown;
- Jules Noël, signed, located Trépord and dated 1869 lower left, Le Trépord, the quays, canvas, 27 x 38.4 cm, Christie's Paris, September 14, 2016, lot 92;
- Jules Noël, signed lower left and dated 1868, Le port de Saint-Goustant, Auray, canvas, 24 x 47 cm, Deburaux & associés, March 26, 2004, lot 84, don François and Armelle Fabius, Musée d'Orsay 2012;
- Jules Noël, signed and dated 1868 lower right, View of the quays of Hennebont in the Morbihan, canvas, 38.5 x 55 cm, Artcurial, 13 nov 2018 lot 112.
