PAUL VIRY
French, 1832–1913
The Falconer
Signed and dated Paul Viry 1877
Oil on panel
21 x 17 inches (53.3 x 43.2 cm)
Framed: 26½ x 22½ inches (67.3 x 57.2 cm)
In this work, the artist depicts one of his favorite subjects, falconry. The setting is the Louis XII wing of the Royal Château de Blois in the Loire Valley, which features in five other works by Viry. The artist has placed two sculptures in the courtyard of the composition – the Lion statue from Las Cortes in Madrid and the ancient Roman sculpture of a child playing with a goose from the Louvre.
Viry’s Falconer with three Falcons, a related work on the subject of falconry, appeared in the catalogue for the sale of the collection of Walter Richmond in New York in 1899: of its subject the author of the catalogue noted “the most minute painting of this character…. It is impossible to describe the microscopic elaboration of every part of this picture. It reminds us some of the work of [Charles] Bargue. Withal, the set is good, and the color is very agreeable in its quiet tints.”
We are grateful to Paul Busuttil for his assistance in the cataloguing of this work.
Provenance
George I. Seney (sale, American Art Galleries, New York, March 31, 1885, lot 55)
Charles Pratt, acquired at the above sale
Jonathan Ackerman Coles
The Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey, gift of the above
Acquired from the above, 2016
Exhibited
Paris, Salon, 1877, no. 2135
Literature
American Biography: A New Cyclopedia, New York, 1918, vol. IV, p. 16
$18,000