Lot Essay
Philip Wilson Steer was one of the few British artists at the end of the 19th Century who looked directly to France and the French Impressionists for his inspiration. He studied in Paris at the Académie Des Beaux-Artes and later visited the Continent and painted there. He is widely regarded as the foremost British Impressionist painter and together with Walter Sickert was a leader of the New English Art Club. This work, painted at Montreuil-sur-Mer, which Steer visited on several occasions, shows the interior of the house where Steer stayed. A work sold by Christie's in 2006 depicts the exterior of the house (Figures in a courtyard, Montreuil-sur-Mer Lot 254 sold for £36,000 on 22nd November 2006). Again in this picture we see Steer using the very thick impasto which characterized this phase in his career.
We are grateful to Bruce Laughton for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.