Lot 23: Arthur Melville, ARSA RSW ARS (British, 1855-1904) Early Morning on the Seine, the Pont Neuf 35.25 x 53.5 cm. (13 7/8 x 21 1/16 in.)

Early Morning on the Seine, the Pont Neuf
signed and dated 'A Melville 79' (lower left)
watercolour
35.25 x 53.5 cm. (13 7/8 x 21 1/16 in.)

PROVENANCE:
James Mackinlay, Esq.
With the Fine Art Society, London, 1970

EXHIBITED:
Memorial Exhibition, Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour, 1906, no. 143
Memorial Exhibition, Nottingham Castle Museum, 1907 no. 58

LITERATURE:
Mackay, AE, Arthur Melville, Scottish Impressionist, Leigh on Sea, 1951,

Melville arrived in France early in 1878 and spent most of the following year in Grez, one of the first significant British artists to do so. Grez had been immensely popular with Paris art students in 1878, due in part to the cost of living, but in 1879 it was deserted. Views of the city are relatively rare by Melville, and although he did depict the grands boulevards a couple of times, acknowledging his Impressionist peers, his watercolours tend to depict the working life of the Seine or less fashionable districts such as Bercy.