Sold for: $67,250

PROVENANCE
Galerie Walter Klinkhoff Inc., Montreal
Kastel Gallery Inc., Montreal
Private Collection, Ontario

LITERATURE
A.K. Prakash, Impressionism in Canada: A Journey of Rediscovery, 2015, page 632

This scene of Quebec City from Pointe Lévis is absolutely iconic for Robert Pilot, from the depiction of historic buildings to the ferries steaming across the St. Lawrence River. This view from high on a hill, cloaked in a layer of snow, is exquisitely beautiful. Pilot had ample opportunity to showcase his Impressionist skills, absorbed decades before at the Académie Julian in Paris and from his stepfather, the Canadian Impressionist Maurice Cullen. Delicate atmospheric effects are everywhere, from the sensitively modulated clouds to the plumes of steam and smoke rising from the ships and from buildings on the far shore. Pilot picks up the light reflecting off ice pans in the river, the snow covering the hillsides and the delicate tracery of branches in the foreground trees to illuminate the scene.

Later in his life, Pilot would rework sketches from his early years, as he said, “to capture the essential poetry of the scene[s] I had worked on in my youth.” The urban life of Old Quebec was of paramount interest to him, and he particularly favoured the bluish hue of twilight. Quebec from Pointe Levis, PQ is an acutely nostalgic scene that captures the charming allure of Old Quebec.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars