Émile-Octave-Denis-Victor Guillonnet, French 1872-1967- Bretagne, 1941; oil on arched canvas,...

Émile-Octave-Denis-Victor Guillonnet, French 1872-1967- Bretagne, 1941; oil on arched canvas, signed and dated 1941 lower right, maximum 88 x 120cm (ARR) Provenance: Private collection, France; Leighton Fine Art, UK, where purchased by the present owner. Note: Émile Guillonnet started his career at a very young age, winning his first medal at the Paris Salon aged fifteen, and continuing to win awards throughout his career. In 1901, at age 29, Guillonnet won a scholarship which enabled him to travel to Algeria, an experience which informed his subsequent work. This trip encouraged Guillonnet to experiment with the representation in his art of the bright light and vivid colours which he encountered. Guillonnet often depicted figures in gardens and other outdoor settings, often bathed in the sunlight which so interested him. This painting exemplifies Guillonnet’s style, particularly in his use of swift, bold brushstrokes in a large-scale representation of colourfully-clad figures surrounded by striking scenery, as in his depiction of a garden party in the gardens of Buckingham Palace, completed around the same time. He became an Official Painter of the Third Republic, and completed commissions for several notable locations, including for the Hotel de Ville in Paris, a series of the Stations of the Cross in Philadelphia, and just under fifty panels for the Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Caracas. His works are in a number of collections including the Paris Museum of Modern Art, the Museums of Luxemburg, Bordeaux, Dijon, and Nantes.