Sold for: $37,250

PROVENANCE
Galerie Walter Klinkhoff Inc., Montreal
By descent to a Private Collection, Montreal
Sold sale of Fine Canadian Art, Heffel Fine Art Auction House, May 23, 2007, lot 46
Private Collection, Quebec City

LITERATURE
Hughes de Jouvancourt, Maurice Cullen, 1978, titled as Winter View of Sillery from the Plaines d’Abraham, reproduced page 12

EXHIBITED
Galerie Walter Klinkhoff Inc., Montreal, Maurice Cullen, 1866 - 1934: Retrospective Exhibition, September 17 - 30, 1974, catalogue #37

This atmospheric painting is a view of Sillery, a borough of Quebec City, from the historic Plains of Abraham where, in a decisive battle in 1759, the English under General James Wolfe defeated the French under General Louis Montcalm. However, this painting is a purely aesthetic view of this historic area, and a fine example of Maurice Cullen’s consummate abilities with an Impressionist style. As well as being exposed to French Impressionism during his studies in France, Cullen went on sketching trips with Canadian Impressionist James Wilson Morrice – they were known to have worked together at Beaupré, Quebec, in the winter of 1897. In this view of Sillery, Cullen’s use of Impressionist colour and light is exquisite. While mixing colour tones on his palette, Cullen was known to have kept his colours as separate as possible to retain the vibrancy of the pigments, and he built up his surfaces with the technique of impasto, mixing paint directly on the surface of the canvas.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars