Oil painting, 'La Place du Molard, Geneva', copy after Richard Parkes Bonington

Oil painting, 'La Place du Molard, Geneva'.

Bequeathed by Constantine Alexander Ionides

Bequeathed by Constantine Alexander Ionides, 1900. Purchased by Mr Hogg for £63, sale Christie 9 April 1879, lot 124. Constantine Alexander Ionides acquired the work before November 1881 when he estimated its value at £200 (his inventory, private collection)

Historical significance: This is a copy of a lost painting by Bonington (1802-1828) of the Place du Molard, Geneva. The painting is known from an engraving after Bonington’s composition, published in 1830 by the English painter and printmaker J. D. Harding (1798-1863). Bonington visited Geneva en route to Italy from Paris on the 8th April, 1826. He left the city the following day. Bonington travelled widely on the continent and went to Switzerland in 1826. He was accompanied by his then patron, Charles Rivet (1800-1872), later to become Baron Charles Rivet, on this journey. The impression that Geneva made on the travellers is documented in a letter from Rivet to his parents where he comments "…Geneva presented itself as interesting only in the interior of its streets."

Continental landscapes were becoming increasingly popular in the early nineteenth century. The end of the Napoleonic wars (1799-1815) meant that travelling through the Continent was now safe. Many artists including Bonington and Turner, who made several voyages throughout Europe in the 1820s and 1830s, took advantage of this. Through his connections with France, Bonington had already established a career painting rural landscapes in both watercolour and oil. Although this painting shows a city view, the composition of figures in the foreground leading our eye in to the painting combined with the fall of calm light on the scene reflects Bonington's earlier works.

Bonington’s works were very popular during his lifetime and in the years immediately following his death. Many copies were made after his works. CAI.13 is the only painted copy after the lost original ,i> Place du Molard. In the prints and drawings collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum there is a sketch in pencil and Chinese white of the Place du Molard by Bonington (museum number E.83-1943). This was presumably made by the artist during his stay in Geneva in April 1826. The composition is almost the same as that of CAI.13 however in the painting there is a larger group of figures on both the left and right side of the square and a boat can be seen on the lake beyond. These differences suggest that whoever painted CAI.13 was not aware of this sketch by Bonington of the subject but in fact copied from the original painting or another work after the painting. As well as J. D. Hardings after Bonington's lost painting Place du Molard, Geneva, reproduced in a series of 20 lithographs by 1830, there are also a series of graphite sketches made after the lost painting painting by Jules Joyant (1803-1854). Both the Joyant sketches and Harding's lithograph are closer in composition to CAI.13. It is likely that the artist who painted CAI.13 was aware of Harding's lithograph after Bonington's Place du Molard. In his recent monograph of Bonington, Noon has suggested that it is difficult to ascertain whether Joyant was responsible for CAI.13.

Continental scenes became increasingly popular in the early nineteenth century. This view shows the Place du Mollard in Geneva, and is a copy of an original composition by Richard Parkes Bonington, one of the most popular exponents of the watercolour view. His compositions were widely known and copied.

Bonington travelled widely on the continent and went to Switzerland in 1826. In this work the viewer's eye is drawn in by the lines of the buildings to the back of the Place du Mollard. The forms of the rooftops bring a variety to the composition which is continued in the inclusion of figures in the foreground.

CAI.13