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Lot 47^*,AR

John Piper C.H.
(British, 1903-1992)
Rodez (Aveyron) 152.4 x 107 cm. (60 x 42 1/8 in.)

12 June 2019, 15:00 BST

London, New Bond Street

Sold for £25,062.50 inc. premium

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John Piper C.H. (British, 1903-1992)

Rodez (Aveyron)
signed 'John Piper' (lower right)
oil on hessian laid on panel
152.4 x 107 cm. (60 x 42 1/8 in.)

Footnotes

Provenance
With Marlborough Fine Art, London, where acquired by the family of the present owner circa 1975
Private Collection, U.K.

Exhibited
London, Marlborough Fine Art, John Piper, September-October 1975

In contrast to the purely abstract pictures of the 1930s, John Piper's focus switched to the recording of important and historical architectural sites from the 1940s onwards. Frequently travelling to obscure locations at home and abroad, he intended on finding buildings of extraordinary character and representing them with his own unique technique. Piper had an affinity with France and in the present work depicts an imposing site of religious significance. Rodez Cathedral is located in the Aveyron district of the South of France and is characterised by its unity of style, which is predominantly Gothic and of the manner imported by architect Jean Deschamps. In the present work, Piper chooses to depict the cathedral from a side view and in doing so omits the distinctive façade that forms the west front and was once a defensive part of the old city walls. We are presented with a richly decorated portal and the fine rose window that the artist explored in other monumental ecclesiastical works of similar date such as Reims Cathedral (sold in these rooms on 10 June 2015). The intense red/pink hues that sweep across the canvas are surely representative of the red sandstone construction of Rodez itself and the impressionistic application of the paintwork recounts the famous Rouen Cathedral series painted in the 1890s by Claude Monet.

This lot is accompanied by a framed photograph of the Artist with the present work.

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