Cityscape — Auction
Maximilien Émile Louis Maufra was a French painter known for his landscapes and seascapes. He was born in Nantes, France, and began his artistic training at the École des Beaux-Arts in Nantes before moving to Paris to study under the painter Alexandre Cabanel.
Maufra was a member of the Pont-Aven School, a group of artists who gathered in the Brittany region of France in the late 19th century. He was also influenced by the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist movements, and his paintings are characterized by loose brushwork, bright colors, and a focus on capturing the effects of light and atmosphere.
Maufra's paintings often depict the rugged coastlines of Brittany, as well as the forests and countryside of Normandy. He was also known for his depictions of the ports and harbors of Brittany, which he often painted in a bold, colorful style.
Maufra exhibited his work at many important exhibitions, including the Salon des Indépendants and the Salon d'Automne in Paris. His work is represented in many important collections, including the Musée d'Orsay in Paris and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Alfred Sisley was an Impressionist landscape painter who was born and spent most of his life in France, but retained British citizenship. He was the most consistent of the Impressionists in his dedication to painting landscape en plein air (i.e., outdoors). He deviated into figure painting only rarely and, unlike Renoir and Pissarro, found that Impressionism fulfilled his artistic needs.
Among his important works are a series of paintings of the River Thames, mostly around Hampton Court, executed in 1874, and landscapes depicting places in or near Moret-sur-Loing. The notable paintings of the Seine and its bridges in the former suburbs of Paris are like many of his landscapes, characterised by tranquillity, in pale shades of green, pink, purple, dusty blue and cream. Over the years Sisley's power of expression and colour intensity increased.