A promenade by the lake; French Impressionist painting of a girl holding a bouquet of flowers and hat, artist ca. late 19th / early 20th Century / dated 1896. 41"H x 30 1/4"W (stretcher), 46"H x 35 1/2"W (frame)

A promenade by the lake; French Impressionist painting of a girl holding a bouquet of flowers and hat, artist ca. late 19th / early 20th Century / dated 1896. oil on canvas. Unsigned. Description: The painting depicts a peaceful promenade, contrasting a bright midground / background with the shade in the foreground, the latter being centered on an elegant young lady carrying a bouquet and a hat; in the midground, to the left, a lady with a parasol being greeted by a gentleman in a top hat, near a group of column-like trees. In the background: a lake. Condition and size: The painting is in good condition, overall. Craquelure throughout; the paint appears to be stable, though. Minor restoration points. The frame is probably more recent than the canvas and the stretcher. Canvas / stretcher: 40 ½ x 30 ½ inches; frame: 45 ¾ x 35 ½ inches. Provenance: On the back of the canvas, in fairly large letters written probably with a brush, and including a couple of typos: “Seurat. Impressionist francais. Paris, ‘96”. Presumably, a note by an early owner who acquired the painting in Paris in 1896. (It’s possible that ‘Seurat’ was written by a different hand; in any case, the cursive writing and the shapes of the letters seem different from ‘Impressionist francais’.) Old label on the back (lower left corner), with the number 9 (from an early sale?). Several inscriptions on the top segment of the stretcher, one of which is easily readable: “Dr. Janka”, probably a later owner. Small round stamp on the back of the canvas: a symbol resembling a coat of arms, surrounded by what seems to be an address: “…Paris, Blvd…” More recently: estate in Düsseldorf, Germany. Purchased from the Antikauktion Krefeld, Germany in March 2024: 41"H x 30 1/4"W (stretcher), 46"H x 35 1/2"W (frame)