.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This seems to be the first picture by Russell to appear that is clearly dated to his first trip to Belle-Ile in 1886, the pencil inscription on the stretcher dating it further to the month of his meeting with Monet at Port Goulphar, in September 1886. Galbally (The Art of John Peter Russell, Melbourne, 1977) listed no dated Belle-Ile subjects from 1886 in her catalogue of works, commenting: 'Unfortunately we have no surviving definitely-dated work by Russell from the period he spent on Belle-Ile before the arrival of Monet. We know that Russell did paint on the island in 1886, for in the Inventory of his works remaining in Paris after his death is listed a watercolour, signed and dated 1886 and inscribed 'Loc-maria' which is the name of the southermost region of Belle-Ile.' (A. Galbally, op. cit., p.52).
After the closure of Cormon's studio for the summer season, Russell took Marianna and their son Jean Paolo to Belle-Ile in June 1886, their first visit to the island which seems to have caught Russell's attention on his return to London from Spain via Brittany in 1883. The family took a small house in the hamlet of Envague, just beyond Kervilahouen, below the lighthouse (Le Grand Phare) of Goulphar, and just short of the little inlet of Port Goulphar on the exposed Atlantic coast (the Côte Sauvage) of the island. Russell would choose to build his house at the head of Port Goulphar the following year, at a site so obviously reminiscent of Sydney's coves and inlets.
Towards the end of their sojourn, Russell famously encountered Monet painting and asked him if he was indeed 'the prince of the impressionists?'. Monet, who had arrived on the island on 12 September and taken a room at the Auberge Marec in Kervilahouen on the 15th, enjoyed the Russell's hospitality, eating with the family at Envague and making a trip with Russell and a local fisherman out along the coast to the grotto at L'Apothicairerie, during the two weeks they shared on the island. Russell introduced Monet to Hippolyte Guillaume, a retired fisherman, who acted as Monet's porter, and later the Russells' gardener and handyman. Known as Poly and Père Poly or Polyte, he was painted by Monet and features in many of Russell's later paintings. The Russells returned to Paris at the end of September. They would return to the island, building their house overlooking Port Goulphar, where they would live from 1889-1904.
Virtually all of Russell's Belle-Ile subjects are painted in the immediate region of Port Goulphar (as were all of Monet's thirty-eight Belle-Ile landscapes), the motifs such as the Aiguilles du Port Coton and Port-Goulphar constantly recurring. The present work probably depicts Port Domois, the little hamlet of Domois, just east of Port Goulphar, above its high cliffs with its track winding down to the sea, a motif also painted by Monet.
After the closure of Cormon's studio for the summer season, Russell took Marianna and their son Jean Paolo to Belle-Ile in June 1886, their first visit to the island which seems to have caught Russell's attention on his return to London from Spain via Brittany in 1883. The family took a small house in the hamlet of Envague, just beyond Kervilahouen, below the lighthouse (Le Grand Phare) of Goulphar, and just short of the little inlet of Port Goulphar on the exposed Atlantic coast (the Côte Sauvage) of the island. Russell would choose to build his house at the head of Port Goulphar the following year, at a site so obviously reminiscent of Sydney's coves and inlets.
Towards the end of their sojourn, Russell famously encountered Monet painting and asked him if he was indeed 'the prince of the impressionists?'. Monet, who had arrived on the island on 12 September and taken a room at the Auberge Marec in Kervilahouen on the 15th, enjoyed the Russell's hospitality, eating with the family at Envague and making a trip with Russell and a local fisherman out along the coast to the grotto at L'Apothicairerie, during the two weeks they shared on the island. Russell introduced Monet to Hippolyte Guillaume, a retired fisherman, who acted as Monet's porter, and later the Russells' gardener and handyman. Known as Poly and Père Poly or Polyte, he was painted by Monet and features in many of Russell's later paintings. The Russells returned to Paris at the end of September. They would return to the island, building their house overlooking Port Goulphar, where they would live from 1889-1904.
Virtually all of Russell's Belle-Ile subjects are painted in the immediate region of Port Goulphar (as were all of Monet's thirty-eight Belle-Ile landscapes), the motifs such as the Aiguilles du Port Coton and Port-Goulphar constantly recurring. The present work probably depicts Port Domois, the little hamlet of Domois, just east of Port Goulphar, above its high cliffs with its track winding down to the sea, a motif also painted by Monet.