33. Gaston de Latenay
(1859-1940)

Autumn Trees at Versailles

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Latenay, Autumn Trees

Autumn Trees at Versailles

Drawing in watercolor and gouache over pencil and pen and ink on card, ca. 1900, sheet 162 x 175 mm. The view is from one of the many formal pools, the scalloped edges of which are drawn at the base of the composition although the water is left white, down one of the grandes allées bursting with color. De Latenay, who alternated between fairly realistic depiction and art nouveau, made a number of prints and drawings of a somewhat idealized Versailles, concentrating on the grounds rather than the palace. The drawing is unsigned, but typical of his work and has an old attribution to him verso. The circular composition leads one to think that it may have been meant as a design for a plate, a venerable tradition in France that frequently called on the services of fine artists.