Eugène Boudin (French, 1824–1898) Lot n° 31

La Provende des Poules, Signed, located and dated 'E. Boudin/Fervaques 76' bottom left, oil on canvas 14 x 10 3/4 in. (35.6 x 27.3cm)Collection of Ch. Ricada, Paris. Collection of Dr. Delineau, Paris. His sale, Hôtel Drouot, sale of February 1, 1901, lot 25. Acquired directly from the above sale. Private Collection. Private Collection, New York. LITERATURE: Robert Schmit, Catalogue Raisonné de L’OEuvre Peint d'Eugène Boudin, Galerie Schmit, Paris, 1973, Vol. I, no. 1146, p. 396 (not illustrated, listed as Cour de Ferme). NOTE: Normandy remained Boudin's land of predilection throughout his entire career-a safe harbor to which he would repeatedly return, wandering between Le Havre and Deauville in search of inspiration. The small, sixty-five-mile-long coastal river Touques particularly appealed to him. It was along its course, in the valley and in the surrounding villages, that Boudin planted his easel and painted for some forty years the same places and people, true to his desire to instantaneously capture atmospheric effects in places he already knew but enjoyed rediscovering under different lights. It is in Fervaques that Boudin painted the most from 1869 to 1897, staying with his friends Dr. Eugène Jaquette and his wife Stéphanie, who also hosted the Dutch painter Johan Jongkind (who first encouraged Boudin to work en plein-air) and supported local artists, buying and collecting their work. While in Fervaques, Boudin captured several views of the village, its market stall, and the nearby houses and farmhouses, as shown in the present work. In the middle of a closed farmyard, not too far from a well, a peasant woman is feeding a hungry group of roosters and hens at her feet. A tied-up horse can be seen behind her, resting under a small awning covered with brown tiles overhung by thick green foliage. The farmyard appears quiet, bathed in a soft morning light that delicately hits the walls of the old building to