Felix Ziem (French, 1821-1911) atmospheric oil on board painting or study of a cursorily-described cityscape, possibly a Dutch or French scene. A row of buildings stand at left and a tall structure, likely a mill, rises at center right, all below a cloudy sky. Rendered with gestural brushwork in shades of purple and yellow with maroon highlights and areas of impasto. Signed "Ziem.," lower left. Housed in an ornate giltwood frame. Board: 9 1/4" W x 6 1/4" H. Frame: 13" W x 10" H. Biography: Felix Ziem's humble origins and his training in architecture and design outside the workshops of Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris transformed him into an eccentric, unclassifiable, and independent artist. His career, however, was an exceptional commercial success. He was the first artist whose work the Louvre acquired while he was still alive. His clientele consisted of English nobility, Russian princes, and French aristocrats, allowing him to fully enjoy his art and travel the world. After 1842, Ziem traveled almost every year. Italy, Holland, Russia, Germany, England, Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt, Greece, and Algeria all served as pretexts for different genres: landscapes, architectural drawings, portraits, and copies of great masters. He became close with the artists of the Barbizon school, which from the 1830s onwards favored creativity and considered the representation of landscape to be above all genres. At the same time he was also profoundly influenced by the Dutch masters. Yet he modernized all this in his style of painting with its very fast, very supple technique, which left room for a diversity of brush strokes and the intensity of color. Ziem was also inspired by English painters such as Turner and Bonington, as well as Italian masters including Canaletto and Guardi. (Source: Excerpted from Pera Museum)

CONDITION: Condition is excellent, with faint craquelure in lower right quadrant. Gilt loss throughout frame, along with separated but stable lower left and upper right corners and minor, scattered accretions, especially to fillet at right and in upper left corner.