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Antibes Seen from the Plateau Notre-Dame
Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926)
1888
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
65.7 x 81.3 cm (25 7/8 x 32 in.)
Credit Line
Juliana Cheney Edwards Collection
Accession Number39.672
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
Monet’s pale and delicate paintings from his second Mediterranean visit in 1888 are dominated by pink and light blue and a softened light, which he exploited for its unifying properties. The old fort in the town of Antibes was Monet’s favorite motif during this period, but in this work he reduced the structure and its surrounding building to thick, rhythmic touches of yellow and blue paint, choosing to focus on the drama of sunlight and shadow instead of the architecture of the town.
InscriptionsLower right: Claude Monet 88
Provenance1889, Georges Petit, Paris [see note 1]; September 19, 1889, sold by Georges Petit to M. Knoedler and Co., Paris and New York (stock no. 6301); November 1, 1890, sold by Knoedler to Doll and Richards, Boston (stock no. B2666) [see note 2]; November 1, 1890, sold by Doll and Richards to Joseph Foxcroft Cole (b. 1837 - d. 1892), Boston [see note 3]; by inheritance to his daughter, Adelaide H. L. A. de Pelgrom Cole (b. 1868) and her husband, William Chester Chase (b. 1865), Boston, until at least 1911 [see note 4]. By 1927, Hannah Marcy Edwards (d. 1929), Boston [see note 5]; 1939, bequest of Hannah Marcy Edwards to the MFA. (Accession Date: October 11, 1939)
NOTES:
[1] He lent the painting to the exhibition "Claude Monet - A. Rodin," Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1889, cat. no. 124.
[2] Getty Provenance Index, M. Knoedler and Co. Records, PI-Record nos. K-9980 and K-5205 (stock book 4, no. 6301, pp. 116 and 133).
[3] Information about Cole's purchase of the painting is taken from a letter from A. S. McKean of Doll and Richards to Charles C. Cunningham (November 1, 1939; in MFA curatorial file). Cole lent the painting to "An Exhibition of Paintings by Claude Monet," St. Botolph Club, Boston, March 28 - April 9, 1892, cat. no. 13.
[4] Mrs. William Chester Chase first lent the painting to the MFA in 1894; it was also lent, under her husband's name, to the exhibition "Paintings by Claude Monet, 1876 - 1907," MFA, Boston, August 1 - October 1, 1911, cat. no. 26.
[5] Hannah Edwards lent the painting anonymously to the "Memorial Exhibition of Paintings by Claude Monet, " MFA, Boston, January 11 - February 6, 1927, cat. no. 46. Siblings Robert (d. 1924), Hannah (d. 1929), and Grace (d. 1938) Edwards were each collectors of art, who seemed to have had joint ownership of the objects in their possession. When Robert died, he bequeathed his collection to the MFA in memory of their mother, Juliana Cheney Edwards. In 1925, after his death, part of his collection was acquired by the Museum, and the remainder went to his sisters, with the understanding that the objects would ultimately be left to the MFA in the collection begun in memory of their mother. The collections of Hannah and Grace were left to the MFA in 1939, following Grace's death. It is not always possible to determine exactly which paintings each sibling had owned.
NOTES:
[1] He lent the painting to the exhibition "Claude Monet - A. Rodin," Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1889, cat. no. 124.
[2] Getty Provenance Index, M. Knoedler and Co. Records, PI-Record nos. K-9980 and K-5205 (stock book 4, no. 6301, pp. 116 and 133).
[3] Information about Cole's purchase of the painting is taken from a letter from A. S. McKean of Doll and Richards to Charles C. Cunningham (November 1, 1939; in MFA curatorial file). Cole lent the painting to "An Exhibition of Paintings by Claude Monet," St. Botolph Club, Boston, March 28 - April 9, 1892, cat. no. 13.
[4] Mrs. William Chester Chase first lent the painting to the MFA in 1894; it was also lent, under her husband's name, to the exhibition "Paintings by Claude Monet, 1876 - 1907," MFA, Boston, August 1 - October 1, 1911, cat. no. 26.
[5] Hannah Edwards lent the painting anonymously to the "Memorial Exhibition of Paintings by Claude Monet, " MFA, Boston, January 11 - February 6, 1927, cat. no. 46. Siblings Robert (d. 1924), Hannah (d. 1929), and Grace (d. 1938) Edwards were each collectors of art, who seemed to have had joint ownership of the objects in their possession. When Robert died, he bequeathed his collection to the MFA in memory of their mother, Juliana Cheney Edwards. In 1925, after his death, part of his collection was acquired by the Museum, and the remainder went to his sisters, with the understanding that the objects would ultimately be left to the MFA in the collection begun in memory of their mother. The collections of Hannah and Grace were left to the MFA in 1939, following Grace's death. It is not always possible to determine exactly which paintings each sibling had owned.