Claude Monet (French, 1840-1926) Attributed: Waterloo Bridge, pastel on pressed-pulp cardboard, signed and dated 1902, verso initialed CM 1902, with two descriptive labels. Framed, with museum glass.

The back of the paperboard has the following: A label, upon which is hand-written "Etude en pastel par Claude Monet du point de Waterloo, Londres 1902";
A partially printed inventory label "Florent, le 1 Mars 1907, Souvenir de Londres point de Waterloo 02" The word Vendu is superimposed in blue pencil;
CM 1902 hand written in charcoal in the lower left corner;
A hand written reference number (F300), also in blue, and initials (FLANI?) written in charcoal in the upper left corner.

Arriving in London for his third visit, on Friday 25 January 1901, Monet discovered that his boxes of canvasses and equipment had yet to appear and found himself unable to work. The next day, his letter to his wife Alice complained of restlessness but mentioned that he had "tried in vain to make some sketches in pastel... A total of 21 works in pastel on paper have been preserved from this period of unexpected effort in 1901. All of them featured the river Thames and two adjacent bridges.

Although Monet created the compositions in 1901, one of the pastels -- Waterloo Bridge, Boats on the Thames-- is dated 1902, and another is marked 1903, suggesting that he valued the studies and refined them alongside his oil paintings upon his return to his studio in Giverney.

While most of the documented Pastels from Monet's 1901 London visit are created on toned art paper, the version of Waterloo Bridge in this auction is potentially one of the first images he created there. Without his regular art supplies, it is possible that he drew on what was available, a piece of pressed-pulp cardboard.

Claude Monet is credited as a founder of French Impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting.

18.5 x 24 inches board, 14 x 29 inches framed.

Private collection Massachusetts, purchased from a private collector in Maine who reports having found it in an estate sale.

Condition

Good aged condition, small spots, in the skyline, of different textured pulp are slightly discolored from age. The back is heavily water-stained. The front shows minor water stains.

NOTE: If documentation is not listed, the lot is sold without documents.

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