Lot 149: Jean-Baptiste-Adolphe Gibert (French, 1803-1889)

A Rocky Outcrop with a moored Boat and ruined Watchtower, Cefalu
oil on paper laid down on canvas
11 1/2 x 17 1/2 in. (29.2 x 44.5 cm.)

Paris, Emmanuel Moatti, Jean Baptiste Gibert 1803-1883, October-November 2001, no. 43.

Collection of the artist and thence by descent to the artist's family. with Emmanuel Moatti, Paris.
Acquired from the above by the late John R. Gaines.

Jean-Baptiste Adolphe Gibert (1803-1889)

Born in the West Indies in 1803, the son of a wealthy land-owning family, Jean-Baptiste Gibert lived a privileged colonial existence. In 1821, Gibert moved to Paris to study under a fellow French colonial artist, Guillon-Lethière at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. During the years 1825-1829 he actively submitted works to various competitions where he won positive reviews. In 1829 he won the coveted Prix de Rome for his painting La Mort d'Adonis and was praised by critics for the 'harmony in his choice of color and intelligence in the light and dark contrasts.'

Shortly after his arrival in Rome at the Villa Medici in 1830, the young Gibert was more fully exposed to the novelty of plein air painting. While many of these sketches were created as source material for larger, more finished studio works, the sheer number of sketches produced during this time indicated that these sketches were more than just a preparatory step.

Instilled with a highly personal vision, this varied collection of sketches exemplifies the plein air genre. Gibert's technique of bluntly cropping the compositions give them a less 'staged' feel - his eye was drawn to anything as subtle as the varied tones of green found in the countryside (Marsh at Pontins and Roman Campagna, lots 150 and 151) to the nuances of the change from dawn to dusk. Apart from local excursions into the Roman countryside, Gibert literally extended the boundaries of plein air painting by being one of the first artists to make an extended voyage to more exotic Mediterranean locales such as Greece, Turkey and Egypt to name a few. The artist's picturesque depiction of Cairo (lot 153) illustrates his desire to document these foreign experiences with the same spontaneity and immediacy of his Italian sketches.

PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF JOHN R. GAINES

Gibert visited Sicily around 1832 and was particularly drawn to the seaside towns that boasted Greek ruins such as Segeste and Agrigento. In 1834 he submitted a more finished composition entitled View of Segeste to the Salon. On the route to Segeste, Gibert stopped at the small port of Cefalu and sketched this rocky outcrop. The sea is rendered with a lighter more fluid brush that contrasts with the dense colors and textures used to render the rocks which seem to take on a character of their own.