Guys was a proflic recorder of fashionable life in Paris during the Second Empire, and also of the corresponding period in London, where he worked for several years. This watercolour shows his remarkable aptitude for capturing the glamour of a momentary encounter. It is largely executed in black wash over an initial drawing in pen and ink, with only a touch of a flesh tone on the faces of the girls, and a little blue for the bonnets and their ribbons.

The Dutch-born artist Constantin Guys began his career as a member of the first generation of illustrators employed by newspapers, documenting wars and political events for broadsheets and magazines including The Illustrated London News and Punch. His work enabled him to travel widely across Europe and beyond, and he witnessed the revolutions of 1848 and the Crimean War. In the late 1850s, Guys settled in Paris, where his sketches of city life, from high society to street workers, earned him great acclaim. In this work, Guys captures the glamour of a momentary encounter. Two fashionable young women take a wintertime stroll, with the long shadows at their feet suggesting that it may be late afternoon. Guys used tentative pencil markings to plan the initial placement of the figures on the sheet before using increasingly pigmented washes of black ink to indicate volume. Discreet areas of watercolour, such as touches of flesh tones on the young women’s faces and a little blue for their bonnets and ribbons, enliven the work. The final outlining of the figures with the point of a brush clarifies the details while reaffirming the drawing’s graphic qualities. In a manner akin to nineteenth-century fashion plates, Guys describes the women’s voluminous coats, paying particular attention to their matching accessories of ribboned bonnets and elegant muffs. His careful observation extends to registering the flounce of the skirt in motion, resulting in the flash of a slender ankle. Guys disliked staged compositions, preferring to capture fleeting moments, in the manner of a reporter. It is this quality that led the eminent French poet and art critic Charles Baudelaire to declare Guys the quintessential ‘painter of modern life’. (Entry from The Courtauld Collection: A Vision for Impressionism, exh. cat., Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, 2019).

sale of collection of M.P. (?) at Hôtel Drouot (Paris), 3 April 1905, lot 63; Paul Rosenberg (Paris); purchased from him by Samuel Courtauld, London (1876-1947), November 1928 (£282, or 35,000 fr); Courtauld Gift 1938

Defining Modernity - European Drawings 1800 - 1900, J Paul Getty Museum & Los Angeles & California & USA, 05/07/2007-09/09/2007

A Passion for Drawings, Collectors at the Courtauld, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 28/02/2002-09/06/2002

The Courtauld Collection: Masterpieces of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 14/06/1998-21/09/1998 ...More

Serres, Karen (ed.), The Courtauld Collection: A Vision for Impressionism, Paul Holberton Publishing 2019
no. 10 on p. 120
illus. p. 121

The Courtauld Collection: Masterpieces of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, Art Gallery of Ontario, 1998
cat. no. 4
illus. p. 22

John House, Impressionism for England: Samuel Courtauld as Patron and Collector, Courtauld Institute Galleries 1994
no. 81
illus. p. 205 ...More

Watermark: none.

Collector's mark: none.

Inscription: Verso: upper left edge, graphite: "4"; centre, graphite: "4gn"; lower centre, graphite, underlined: "2".