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Lot 37
Constantinos Volanakis(Greek, 1837-1907)Le depart du navire postal 'steam packet'
Amended
22 November 2023, 12:00 CET
Paris, Avenue Hoche€50,000 - €70,000
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Athens - Art Expertise
Constantinos Volanakis (Greek, 1837-1907)
Le depart du navire postal 'steam packet'
signé 'Bolanachi' (en bas à gauche)
huile sur toile
58.5 x 87.5cm (23 1/16 x 34 7/16in).
signed (lower left)
oil on canvas
signé 'Bolanachi' (en bas à gauche)
huile sur toile
58.5 x 87.5cm (23 1/16 x 34 7/16in).
signed (lower left)
oil on canvas
Footnotes
Showing virtuoso brushwork, great sense of space, and remarkable precision of detail—all typical features of the artist's German period, as indicated by his signature in Latin characters—come together to convey a festive and exuberant atmosphere. It takes the eye a while to explore the picture's various iconographical elements, supplementary themes and painstaking details, from the rigging of the two masted, single funnel vessel to the beautiful vignettes of activity on the pier. This brilliant patchwork of on-board passengers, strolling couples of elegant gentlemen and ladies, and well-dressed children, captured in vivid colour and handled with wit and verve, animates the picture, while the colourful nautical banners provide additional spark.
Receding into deep space, the powerful diagonal of the timber decked pier intersects with the sidelong depiction of the departing vessel. Exceptionally rendered and set against a wonderful sunset of transient gleams and shiny luminosities, this slender beauty is as elegant and sophisticated as the genteel figures strolling on the pier. Half sailing ship and half steamer, she surges confidently forward advocating the values of innovation and progress in an era when sails were gradually replaced by steam-power.
Saleroom notices
Please note the below additional cataloguing:
Provenence
Sotheby's London, Nineteenth Century European Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, 17 June 1986, lot 81.
Private collection, Athens.
Littérature
Kathimerini newspaper, June 1986.