Józef Szermentowski (Bodzentyn, 1833 – Paris, 1876) - Lot 360

Lot n° 360
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Estimation :
8000 - 10000 EUR
Józef Szermentowski (Bodzentyn, 1833 – Paris, 1876) - Lot 360
Józef Szermentowski (Bodzentyn, 1833 – Paris, 1876) Morskie Oko. Oil on canvas mounted on cardboard, unsigned, dated "(18)62" (or 68?) in the lower left corner and labeled "Morskie Oko" (a lake in Poland). Bears a stamp in the lower right corner on the back of the cardboard from the artist’s posthumous exhibition, depicting a cross and a ribbon bearing the inscription “1833 / Józef Szermentowski / 1876.” In its original gilded wooden frame with a label. A few small losses. H. 28 x W. 32 cm; H. x W. cm (frame) Exhibition This painting was most likely part of the posthumous exhibition of Józef Szermentowski organized in 1877 at the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts (Towarzystwo Zachety Sztuk Pieknych) in Warsaw, which included 51 sketches and 32 oil paintings; this work is likely one of the 51 sketches not listed in detail (stamps). Provenance French private collection. History Józef Szermentowski occupies a pivotal place in the history of 19th-century Polish landscape painting, which he helped elevate beyond the mere role of backdrop. Trained in Warsaw and then settled in Paris from 1860 onward, he absorbed the lessons of the Barbizon School without abandoning his sensitive observation of the Polish landscape. In his work, the landscape becomes an autonomous subject—at once realistic, poetic, and imbued with a subtle sense of national memory. Our painting, set at Morskie Oko, is part of a series of studies the artist created in the Tatra and Pieniny Mountains around the time of his return to Poland in 1868. The small format and loose brushwork suggest a study, attentive to the effects of light, the composition of the mountain masses, and the atmosphere of the place. The motif of the lake, framed by dark slopes and peaks, reflects this quest for an authentic landscape, stripped of all romantic pathos. The stamp on the reverse, bearing the inscription “1833 | Józef Szermentowski | 1876,” links the work to the posthumous exhibition held in 1877 at the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in Warsaw. The exhibition catalog specifically mentions a collection of 51 sketches—likely not individually identified—to which this painting may belong. Through its subject matter, provenance, and status as a study, the work offers a rare testament to the modernity of Szermentowski’s landscape painting.
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