Gazette Drouot logo print
Lot n° 46

NARCISSE BERCHÈRE (1819-1891) Children guarding...

Estimate :
300 - 500 EUR

NARCISSE BERCHÈRE (1819-1891) Children guarding the harvest of dourahs (sorghum), Nubia, ca. 1863 Ink, ink wash, graphite and white chalk on paper Monogrammed lower left Ink, inkwash, graphite and white chalk on toned paper, monogrammed lower left 19,2 x 23,4 cm - 7 1/2 x 9 1/4 in. Provenance - Artist's studio (1891) - M*** Collection - Sale, Title unknown, Osenat, Fontainebleau, October 28, 2001, lot 203 (indicated as coming from the artist's family) - Sale, Title unknown, Osenat, Fontainebleau, March 24, 2002, lot 216 (indicated as coming from the artist's family) - Private collection, France (acquired at previous sale, then by descent) Related work Enfants gardant les moissons de dourahs (sorghos) (Nubie)', 1863, oil on canvas, signed lower right, 125 x 82 cm, in. Salon de 1863, Paris, no. 143. Bernard Prost indicates in his book, p. 21, that this painting is in the Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Orléans. Note M. Berchère, more adventurous than M. de Tournemine, went as far as Nubia, from where he brought us his 'Enfants gardant les moissons de dourahs'. Imagine two tawny kids, perched like bronze statuettes on a scaffolding made of palm trunks, and adjusting their slings towards the plundering swarms swirling in the dusty air. Nothing could be stranger than these living scarecrows taking the offensive against the birds.' Paul de Saint-Victor, 'Salon de 1863', in 'La Presse'.

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