AUGUSTE BOUVARD

Auguste Bouvard (1875-1956) was born at St. Etienne in France. His early artistic education was undertak- en at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he spent three years under a scholarship. His birth name was Eloi Noel Beraud although he signed his paintings Bouvard, Marc Aldine and Pelletier, amongst other pseudonyms but it is by Bouvard that he is best known.

During the early part of his career Bouvard painted a variety of French subjects under several pseudo- nyms in order to satisfy the demand for his work, but always maintained the same easy flowing brush and palette knife strokes. Study trips followed throughout Europe, where he began to paint the landscapes of Southern Europe and the Mediterranean coastline. His delicately coloured, rural scenes of southern France, usually signed with the pseudonym Pelletier, were imbued with a diffusion of warm light, reflected off rustic farm buildings beside quaint waterways running through tranquil villages.

The majority of Bouvard’s output went through a dealer in Paris who recommended that he consider Venice as a subject. From that point, his career never looked back. Celebrated for his captivating views of the Venetian canals, Bouvard possessed an undeniable talent for utilising light and atmospheric effects to portray the grandeur of the legendary city. Whilst Bouvard’s subject matter is similar to Canaletto and Guardi, he differs from these great artists by his use of a free impressionist technique, with the introduction of vivid colour and warmth. Under a golden sun and turquoise-blue sky, Bouvard's Venice glistens with unmistakable majesty as he deftly documents its architectural gems and romantic atmosphere.

Gladwell & Company held the first one-man exhibition of Bouvard’s work in Britain in 1928 at 68 Queen Victoria Street in the City, from which the late Queen Mary purchased two examples of his work. Herbert Fuller continued to acquire paintings from this fine artist up until Bouvard died in 1956, and the two subse- quent generations of the Fuller family have continued this tradition ever since.