Antique 19th Century French Misty Autumn Landscape with a Church by Paul Sébilleau

A church spire rises out of the fog, half-dissolved in the mist of a cold autumn morning, while bare trees stand along the near slope and the land falls away into soft gray distance. Paul Sébilleau builds the whole scene with remarkable economy, a few strokes make a tree, a few more a steeple in the haze, and yet the air itself feels damp and real. He paints weather and mood rather than detail, and the result is distinctive atmosphere.

About the Artist
Paul Sébilleau learned his art in remarkable company. He trained under Louis-Augustin Auguin and Hippolyte Pradelles, two painters who had worked outdoors alongside Camille Corot and Gustave Courbet, the poet of French landscape and the father of Realism, in the Port-Berteau group along the Charente in 1862 and 1863. That open-air inheritance runs straight through this misty scene. A painter of the Bordeaux region, Sébilleau exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français and gave his life to the landscapes of the French southwest, from the Gironde and the Dordogne to the Landes and the Charentes, work that earned him recognition in his day.

Why We Love It
This is a painting you feel before you read it. It is early on an autumn morning, the fog still low on the hills, the air crisp enough to touch your face, the world hushed and only just beginning to wake. Sébilleau conjures all of it with almost nothing, a stem becomes a tree, a few pale strokes become a church in the haze, and still the whole scene breathes damp, cold air. One tree at the left, fuller with leaves than the rest, gives the composition its pulse. It is fully antique, and yet it settles into a modern room as if it were made for it. We fell for it at first sight, and we think you will too.

Key Features:

• Origin: France
• Medium: Oil on canvas
• Period: 19th century
• Signature: Signed and dated lower right by the artist (reads 1875 or 1895)
• Dimensions: 25 7/16″ x 15 3/4"
• Condition: Excellent antique condition. Presented just as it came off the wall, carrying the warm, toned varnish and fine craquelure of a 19th-century oil that has never been cleaned. The paint layer is stable. There is a fine scratch running through the lower left foreground, visible on close inspection but easily lost at a normal viewing distance. A restorer could resolve it easily, though it takes nothing away from the painting as it hangs today. For those who prefer a brighter, freshly cleaned surface, the painting could be gently cleaned by a restorer to lift the colors. For those who, like us, are smitten by the atmosphere and the mood exactly as they are, it is ready to hang as it comes. Housed in a later gilded frame. Please see photos for details.
  
• The piece will be shipped from Los Angeles.