Provenance

Ernest Cognacq

French, 1839 - 1928

Explore selected works

We look across the water at two sailing ships with cream-white sails and dark rigging floating in a shimmering, ice-blue river against a distant shore lined with trees, hills, and buildings in this nearly square landscape painting. The horizon comes about halfway up the painting, and the ships’ masts and sails are silhouetted against a topaz-blue sky with wispy white clouds. The scene is loosely painted with visible brushstrokes throughout so many of the details are indistinct. One boat floats near the left edge of the painting and the second is situated a little father back, to our right of center. Both have rust-orange anchors painted near the pointed bows, which face us. Tall, narrow, asparagus-green trees line the far riverbank between the boats. Tall spires and towers of buildings rise in a cluster to our left near that edge of the canvas, and boats cluster near the distant shore to our right. Oatmeal-brown hills rise beyond the trees and town. The trees and boats are reflected in the water, which is painted with horizontal dashes and squiggles. The artist signed the painting in the lower left, “Claude Monet.”
Claude Monet, Ships Riding on the Seine at Rouen, 1872/1873, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.43

Ships Riding on the Seine at Rouen

Claude Monet · 1872/1873 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1970.17.43

This painting depicts a riverbank with a large white bridge spanning across the water. On the left bank is a row of cream and tan buildings, their reflections visible on the gray water of the river below. Closer to us, on the right bank, people are engaged in activities on a sandy embankment. Two people in the bottom right corner sit among piles of white material, a small dog asleep on a cushion beside them. Farther away, a man and a dog sit by the water, and three men stand in a circle near a person sitting on the ground. The people are suggested with small, deliberate brushstrokes, and do not have many visible details. The sky above is light blue and filled with soft, white clouds. A few small carts are visible crossing over the bridge in the distance.
Stanislas Lépine, Pont de la Tournelle, Paris, 1862, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.35

Pont de la Tournelle, Paris

Stanislas Lépine · 1862 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1970.17.35

Bibliography

1963

  • Cabanne, Pierre. The Great Collectors. Paris, 1963:99-121

1969

  • Cabanne, Pierre. "Les Grands Collectionneurs: Les Cognacq." Jardin des Arts 179 (October 1969): 72-85.

1989

  • Les donateurs du Louvre. Paris, 1989: 174.