Nicolae Grigorescu

Nicolae Grigorescu (Romanian, 1838-1907) A tavern in Rucăr signed 'Grigorescu' (lower right) oil on panel 9 1/2 x 17 3/4in (24.2 x 45cm) PROVENANCE: Private collection, Bucharest (since the early 20th century); By descent to the present owner, New York. EXHIBITED: Bucharest, Ateneul Român, Nicolae Grigorescu , January, 1904, no. 178 LITERATURE: Remus Niculescu, Nicolae Grigorescu , Catalogue raisonné, unpublished We would like to thank Mrs. Elena Niculescu for confirming the authenticity of the painting based on photographs. Remus Niculescu placed the date of this work between 1896-1907.

Nicolae Grigorescu (Romanian, 1838-1907) A portrait of the painter Petru Verussi signed 'Grigorescu' (center right) oil on canvas laid down on panel 11 3/4 x 8 5/8in (29.8 x 22cm) PROVENANCE: Dumitru Marinescu Bragadiru (1842-1915), Romanian industrialist; Dumitru D. Bragadiru, his son; By descent to the present owner. LITERATURE: Alexandru Vlahuta, Pictorul Nicolae I. Grigorescu, Viata si opera lui, Bucharest, 1910, no. 187, illustrated (collection D.M. Bragadiru) Remus Niculescu, Grigorescu si primii sai critici, , in Studii si cercetari de istoria artei, no. 1, Bucharest, 1958 One of the founders of modern Romanian painting, Nicolae Grigorescu spent his formative years in Paris, after receiving a scholarship in 1861. He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts and in the studios of Charles Gleyre and Sebastien Cornu, both known for academic historical subjects, but as soon as 1862 he fell under the influence of the painters working in Barbizon. The appeal of plein-air painting, the simplicity of the subject matter freed of the confines of academic rules, and the closeness to nature, offered him new means of expression. The influence of Corot, Millet, Daubigny, would define his style and his preference for realism for the remainder of his career. From 1868 on Grigorescu participated in the yearly Paris Salon exhibitions and the Exposition Universelle, thus gaining international notoriety and collectors' appreciation. Petru Verussi (1847-1886), the sitter of the present portrait, was a friend of Grigorescu and a fellow painter, who apprenticed with Sebastien Cornu and later returned to Romania to become a professor at the Fine Art School in Iasi.

Nicolae Grigorescu (Romanian, 1838-1907) Bull Cart signed 'Grigorescu' (lower right) oil on canvas 19 x 23¾ in. (48.3 x 60.3 cm.) Considered the founder of modern Romanian painting, Nicolae Grigorescu is best known for his impressionistic depictions of his country's rural peasants. Grigorescu began his career, however, by painting church icons and a fresco cycle for the Agapia monastery. These early works captured the attention of Romania's future Prime Minister Mihail Kogalniceanu who later helped Grigorescu secure a scholarship, allowing the young artist to travel to Paris where he immersed himself in the city's vibrant cultural life. Arriving in Paris in 1861, Grigorescu gained entry into the École des Beaux-Arts where he studied with the Academic painter Sébastien Cornu. He soon abandoned this traditional course of study, however, to follow the innovative teachings of a group of avant-garde artists who would later become known as the Barbizon School. After moving from Paris to the village of Barbizon near the forest of Fontainbleau, Grigorescu embraced the work of Jean-François Millet with its emphasis on rural subjects. In Barbizon, Grigorescu experimented with the technique of plein-air painting, a drastic departure from his earlier veristic manner of painting. Barbizon proved a formative experience for Grigorescu as he continued to focus on peasants in natural settings upon his return to Romania in 1869. In Bull Cart, Grigorescu combines the lessons he learned in Barbizon with a lyrical rendering of a Romanian peasant on a hay-wagon being pulled by two formidable looking cattle. Grigorescu's energetic brushstrokes create a dynamic composition of pulsating blues, greens, grays and yellows that distinguish his work from the more staid paintings of Millet. Visionary paintings like Bull Cart led to Grigorescu's success at the Paris Exposition universelle of 1867, the Paris Salons of 1868 and 1869 and the numerous exhibitions of his work held in Bucharest throughout the 1880s and 1890s.

8.76 - NICOLAE GRIGORESCU (1838-1907), "Nude Study", signed at bottom right in brown on the colour box, oil on canvas, the genuine canvas is doubled by sack canvas, 1863-1864, 73x33.5cm, present in the retrospective exhibition from PRR Art Museum - Bucuresti/1957, pg.8 in the exhibition catalogue made by art historian Remus Niculescu; reproduced in Virgil Cioflec's monograph The nude study has been known at least since 1924 when Cioflec reproduces it in his book about Grigorescu, without comment upon it though. In 1957 it shows at the Bucharest Museum of art in an important retrospective exhibit. Remus Niculescu, the author of the exhibit's catalogue, sets it at the 8th catalogue number between 1862 and 1869. Most porbably, the piece dates back to Grigorescu's studies along with Sebastien Cornu at the school of beaux-arts in Paris, and proves the high level of knowledge the painter was showing. The Stamp Cabinet of the Romanian Academy Library also holds a few other nude studies done approximately in the same period as the one on topic. As Remus Niculescu states, the nude was the main inspiration for the painter aside from the didactic inspirations at that time. Grigorescu would have certainly become a brilliant academic painter, if the plein-air painting, the bond with nature and the bohemic life style wouldn't have appealed to him as much. One thing to take into account is that the piece in question is signed, which shows Grigorescu considered it as a representative work. Furthermore, the siganture is placed right on the color box, rather than the usual placing on the neutral parts or the corners of paintings. This suggests Grigorescu intended to subtly instate himself as a painter, an artist, rather than a simple beginner in arts. The delicate modelling of the body structure and the quality of the paint strokes, far from the cold and dry school studies, entitle Grigorescu to present himself without any false modesties. Bibliography: Virgil Cioflec, Grigorescu, National Culture, Bucharest, 1925 Remus Niculescu, Grigorescu between classicism and romanticism, in Studies and research of art history, no. 3-4, july-decembre, 1956, p. 127-172. [the piece is commented upon at p. 154 and reproduced at p. 157] Nicolae Grigorescu exhibit. Catalogue by Remus Niculescu. Bucharest, 1957

8.70 - NICOLAE GRIGORESCU (1838-1907), "Red Apples", signed at bottom right in red, with dedication to Maria Danciu (the artist's wife to be), oil on wood, 14x22cm, the work can be identified by a picture made in the artist's shop near to a few portraits representing her, see p.251 of Al.Vlahuta's monograph