Gustave COURBET (1819-1877) & COLLABORATION The... Lot 57

Gustave COURBET (1819-1877) & COLLABORATION The torrent Oil on canvas, signed lower right. 61 x 50 cm Provenance : -Probably former Hecht collection. -Probably with Durand-Ruel in 1878, no. 29. -Former collection of the Marquis de Téjada. -By descent to his heirs. -Sale Paris, December 15, 2009, catalog no. 64. -?Joseph-André Metten Collection. The December 15, 2009 sale catalog states: "A letter from Jean-Jacques Fernier suggests dating the painting to circa 1875. The painting will be published in the catalog critique de l'œuvre de Gustave Courbet et ses collaborateurs under the authority of Jean-Jacques Fernier by the Wildenstein Foundation". We have neither the letter nor the certificate dated May 6, 2009. Our colleague Éric Turquin, who presented this painting at the December 15, 2009 sale, kindly sent us a photocopy of a letter from Jean-Jacques Fernier dated November 16, 2009, stating: "Your e-mail of Nov. 7 asks me the origin of the indication concerning 'Le Torrent', which I attribute to Courbet alone rather than to Courbet and collaboration. The inscription "catalog Durand-Ruel 1878, n°29" comes from my father's archives, which I have taken over, but I haven't had the catalog in my hands...". The Courbet committee refused to give us the letter of inclusion dated May 26, 2009, kept in their archives, and agreed to read it to us over the phone on November 9, 2023, where it is mentioned that this work is by Gustave Courbet. Nevertheless, the current Courbet Committee will not include this work in its catalog raisonné currently in preparation. On November 16, 2023 Paul-Louis Durand-Ruel and Flavie Durand-Ruel kindly informed us that: "On June 25, 1878, Albert Hecht deposited four paintings with Durand-Ruel, including 203, Courbet, Rochers et cascades (Rocks and waterfalls). We have no image in our archives, nor any indication of the dimensions, of these paintings, and it is therefore possible that they are yours, but we cannot certify this." Lot sold in aid of Fondation A.R.CA.D