The Thames at Lambeth
Date1914
Maker
Lucien Pissarro
French, 1863-1944
Label TextLucien Pissarro was the eldest son of the pioneering Impressionist Camille Pissarro. Lucien first visited England as a child and settled there permanently in the 1890s. Trained by his father but influenced by the Neo-Impressionism of younger artists such as Georges Seurat, Pissarro played an important role in disseminating these modern styles within the English art scene.
In this painting of the Houses of Parliament along the Thames River, we sense the diffuse quality of English light and observe solid shapes and crisper lines than in classic Impressionism. Pissarro himself was not satisfied with this urban vista, and afterward focused mainly on images of the countryside.
Object number57.130
ProvenanceCharles Rutherston, purchased June 1914, later returned; Dr. MacNish, purchased May 1924; [Redfern Gallery, London, 1956]; Dr. Norman Davis, Seattle, purchased 1956; gift from Mr. Davis to Seattle Art Museum, 1957
Exhibition HistoryLondon, England, Hampstead Art Gallery, 1920, cat. no. 20 (as The Thames at Lambeth)
London, England, Redfern Gallery, 1957, cat. no. 244 (as The Thames, Houses of Parliament)
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Museum of Art, "From Impressionism to the Present: Camille Pissarro and His Descendants" January 29, 2000 - April 30, 2000 (as The Thames, Houses of Parliament)
Published ReferencesArt Quarterly, Winter 1957, p. 470, illus. p. 475
Meadmore, William Sutton. "Lucien Pissarro: Un Coeur Simple." London: Constable & Company Ltd., 1962
Thorold, Anne. "A Catalogue of the Oil Paintings of Lucien Pissarro." London: Athelney Books, 1983, no. 175, p. 102, illus. p. 103Credit LineNorman and Amelia Davis Collection
Dimensions21 1/4 x 25 3/4 in. (54 x 65.4 cm)
MediumOil on canvas