(Ferrara 1845–1931) L’allée des Rois, Versailles, circa 1875, oil on canvas, 34 x 56 cm, framed, (GG)

Catalogued and illustrated in:
E. Camesasca, L’opera completa di Boldini, Milan 1970, p. 92–93, no. 221e. Bianca Doria, Giovanni Boldini, Catalogo generale dagli archivi Boldini, Milan 2000, no. 79.
Piero and Francesco Dini, Giovanni Boldini (1842–1931) - Catalogue raisonné of oil paintings, Turin, 2002, Vol. III, p. 150, no. 259.

Exhibited:
Exposicion Boldini, Wildenstein Gallery, Buenos Aires 1948, no. 27;
100 Boldini, Renato Attanasio Gallery, Rome 1951, no. 22;
Atelier Boldini et à divers amateurs, Galerie Charpentier, Paris 1955, no. 27.

Provenance:
Unknown property;
Manzoni Gallery, 7 February 1973, no. 49;
Finarte Milan, May 1986, lot 214;
European private property.

As alluded to in the title, the present work shows a pathway in Versailles and was executed after Boldini’s visit to the magnificent palace during the spring of 1875.

The landscape of Versailles formed the setting for an important series of the artist’s paintings focusing on the park’s architecture and with depictions of elegant ladies in contemporary dress. L’allée des Rois can be closely linked to a number of the artist’s plein air works, such as Noonday Promenade, Versailles, 1876, all of which were executed in Versailles during the same period. (Sale Sotheby’s New York - 5 July 1998, lot 68).