The view from an elevated vantage point, a device that Monet first used to great advantage in *Terrace at Sainte-Adresse*, the continued use of the loosely descriptive brushstroke discussed in connection with *La Grenouillère*, and what Monet later in his career called "the envelopment, the same light spread everywhere" (Monet, October 7, 1890, quoted in Linda Nochlin, *Impressionism and Post-Impressionism 1874-1904, Sources and Documents*, Englewood Cliffs, 1966, p. 34) are the characteristics combined here to realize fully mature Impressionist painting. *Boulevard des Capucines, Paris* was painted from the studio of the photographer Nadar, who lent the same premises in 1874 for the first Impressionist exhibition (John Rewald, *The History of Impressionism*, New York, 1973, p. 313). Monet's acquaintance with Nadar makes it natural that he would have been aware of developments in early photography. In fact, the high horizon line, the view from above, and the blurred figures suggest familiarity with the work of the photographer Adolphe Braun (see Aaron Scharf, "Paintings, Photography, and the Image of Movement," *The Burlington Magazine* CIV/710 [May, 1962], p. 190; and Aaron Scharf, *Art and Photography*, Baltimore, 1969, p. 130).

Although these pictorial devices are sometimes characteristic of early photography, they are also found in Japanese prints, which were popular among the painters of the Impressionist circle. *Boulevard des Capucines, Paris* met with a generally poor response from the public and the critics (Rewald, p. 318). Louis Leroy's famous review, "Exposition des impressionnistes," appeared in the satirical journal *Le Charivari* on April 25, 1874, ten days after the opening of the first Impressionist exhibition. The movement probably got its name from Leroy's title, which was based in turn on the discussion of two paintings in the exhibition, *Impression, Sunrise (Le Havre)* and *Boulevard des Capucines, Paris*.

Leroy referred derisively to the latter as a typical example of "impression," recounting a conversation he had with an academic landscapist, Joseph Vincent:

"Unfortunately, I was impudent enough to leave him [Joseph Vincent] too long in front of the Boulevard des Capucines, by the same painter [Monet].

'Ah-ha!' he sneered in a Mephistophelian manner. 'Is that brilliant enough, now! There's impression, or I don't know what it means. Only be so good as to tell me what those innumerable black tongue-lickings in the lower part of the picture represent?'

'Why, those are people walking along,' I replied.

'Then do I look like that when I'm walking along the Boulevard des Capucines? Blood and thunder! So you're making fun of me at last?'

'I assure you, M. Vincent...'

'But those spots were obtained by the same method as that used to imitate marble: a bit here, a bit there, slapdash, any old way. It's unheard of, appalling. I'll get a stroke from it, for sure' (quoted in Rewald, p. 320)."

If there is a keynote in *Boulevard des Capucines, Paris* it is, besides the "tongue-lickings" described by Joseph Vincent, the cluster of pinks at the right, interpreted by most as balloons but barely recognizable as such. The precedence of formal interests over representational elements foreshadows Maurice Denis's famous statement of nearly twenty years later: "Remember that a painting—before it is a battlehorse, a nude woman, or some anecdote—is essentially a flat surface covered with colors assembled in a certain order" (quoted in Linda Nochlin, *Impressionism and Post-Impressionism 1874-1904, Sources and Documents*, Englewood Cliffs, 1966, p. 187).

Aaron Scharf points out that at least one critic, Ernest Chesneau, responded positively to *Boulevard des Capucines, Paris*. Although today the picture is admired for its precocious abstract qualities, Chesneau, an avowed enemy of photography, singled it out for its realism: "...never has the amazing animation of the public thoroughfare, the ant-like swarming of the crowd on the pavement and the vehicles in the roadway, the movement of the trees in the dust and light along the boulevard; never has the elusive, the fleeting, the instantaneity of movement been caught in its incredible flux, and fixed, as it is in this extraordinary... *Boulevard des Capucines*" (quoted in Scharf, *Art and Photography*, p. 129).

A second version of *Boulevard des Capucines, Paris* (private collection, Paris) exists in a horizontal format. It is not known which one was included in the first Impressionist exhibition since dimensions were not provided in the listing of pictures in 1874. Furthermore, the remarks in Leroy's article are applicable to both pictures.

CREDIT LINE: Purchase: the Kenneth A. and Helen F. Spencer Foundation Acquisition Fund

ACCESSION NUMBER: F72-35

INSCRIPTIONS: l.r.: "Claude Monet"

PROVENANCE:

Purchased from the artist by Charles Vaillant de Meixmoron de Dombasle (1839-1912), Diénay, France, 1875-1912 [1];

Inherited by his widow, Mme. de Meixmoron de Dombasle (née Lucie Marie Emma de Maillart de Landreville, 1848-1932), Diénay, France, 1912-1919;

Purchased from Mme. de Meixmoron de Dombasle by Bernheim-Jeune et Cie, Paris, stock no. 21631, June 22, 1919-November 15, 1919 [2];

Purchased from Bernheim-Jeune et Cie by Alex Reid, Glasgow, November 15, 1919-January 2, 1920;

Purchased from Reid by Mr. Robert Alfred (1872-1948) and Mrs. Elizabeth Russell (née Allan, 1874-1962) Workman, Esq., London, January 2, 1920 [3];

Returned by the Workmans to Alex Reid, Glasgow;

Purchased from Reid by Knoedler and Company, London, Stock Book, No. 7206, January 3, 1924;

Transferred from Knoedler, London, to Knoedler, New York, Stock Book 7, No. 15819, November 21, 1924-January 23, 1925;

Purchased from Knoedler by James Horace Harding (1863-1929), New York, January 23, 1925;

Inherited by his widow, Dorothea Harding (née Barney, 1871-1935), Rumson, NJ, by 1929 [4];

With Knoedler and Company, New York, March 7-October 15, 1935 [5];

Transferred from Knoedler to Carroll Carstairs Gallery, New York, October 15, 1935-by April 11, 1945 at the latest [6];

Purchased from the Estate of Dorothea Harding, through Carroll Carstairs Gallery, New York, by “a private collector in America”, by April 11, 1945 [7];

Marshall Field III (1893-1956(1956-11-08)), Lloyd’s Neck, NY, and Chicago, by April 11, 1945-November 8, 1956 [8];

Inherited by his widow, Mrs. Marshall Field III (née Ruth Pruyn Phipps, 1908-1994), Lloyd’s Neck, NY, and New York City, 1956-December 4, 1972 [9];

Purchased from Mrs. Marshall Field III, through E. V. Thaw and Co., Inc, New York, by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, 1972.

NOTES:

[1] According to Impressionnisme en Lorraine, exh. cat. (Nancy: Musée des Beaux-Arts, 1975), our painting was bought by Meixmoron de Dombasle in 1875 from Claude Monet and was in Meixmoron’s collection until his death in 1912.

[2] See letter from Bernheim-Jeune et Cie to Glynnis Stevenson, NAMA, October 17, 2017, NAMA curatorial files. Durand-Ruel, Paris, purchased a half share of the painting from Bernheim-Jeune on June 23, 1919, and then sold their share back to Bernheim-Jeune on January 7, 1920. Durand-Ruel stock number was 11519. See email from Paul-Louis Durand-Ruel and Flavie Durand-Ruel, Durand-Ruel et Cie, Paris, to Nicole Myers, NAMA, curatorial file.

[3] Tate Britain, London, Alex Reid and Lefèvre archives, “1913-1920 Daybook,” TGA 2002/11/279.

[4] Our painting was not sold in James Horace Harding’s estate sales of 1941. According to the Frick, where James Horace Harding was on the Board of Trustees, there’s nothing in his correspondence related to our picture. The Frick suspects that the painting was inherited by his widow, who inherited her husband’s estate, and then sold after her death in 1935. See email from Eugenie Fortier, Frick Art Reference Library Archives, New York, to Glynnis Stevenson, NAMA, April 3, 2017, NAMA curatorial files.

[5] See Knoedler label numbered 24721 on verso. The Estate of Mrs. Dorothea Horace Harding had the painting delivered to Knoedler on March 7, 1935. Upon receipt, Knoedler decided to retain the picture on commission rather than purchase it from the estate. See email Karen Mayer-Roux, Archivist, Special Collections, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, to Glynnis Stevenson, NAMA, October 11, 2019, NAMA curatorial files.

[6] Knoedler transferred the picture to Carroll Carstairs, New York. Knoedler Commission Book 3, Folio 69, CA 802, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles. See also M. Knoedler & Co. records, approximately 1848-1971. Series IV. Inventory cards, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles.

[7] According to The Frick Art Reference Library, New York, Photo Archives, artist file for Claude Monet (1840-1926), “Boulevard des Capucines,” “…after ownership by J. Horace Harding, the painting was sold by Carroll Carstairs Gallery, New York, to a private collector in America, then acquired by Mr. and Mrs. Marshall Field III, circa 1945.” See email from Eugenie Fortier, Frick Art Reference Library Archives, New York, to Glynnis Stevenson, NAMA, April 3, 2017, NAMA curatorial files.

[8] Boulevard hung in the living room at the Fields’ Caumsett Estate in Lloyd Harbor, Long Island. See Matthew Bessell, Caumsett: The home of Marshall Field III in Lloyd Harbor, New York (Huntington, NY: Huntington Town Board, 1991), 51n48.

[9] Following the death of her husband in 1956, Field moved to an apartment in New York City. The estate was purchased by New York State on February 3, 1961 and converted into a state park. Though she sold off much of the art she inherited, Boulevard was in her New York apartment when she sold it to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art through E.V. Thaw, New York in 1972. See letter from E.V. Thaw and Co., Inc. to Mr. Ralph T. Coe, NAMA, November 21, 1974, NAMA curatorial files. Previous scholars confused Mrs. Marshall Field III and Mrs. Marshall Field IV. According to Matthew Bessell, Caumsett: The home of Marshall Field III in Lloyd Harbor, New York , Boulevard des Capucines was among the pictures inherited by Ruth Field after her husband’s death (p. 25). Ralph T. Coe states that the painting was owned by Ruth Field before being bought by NAMA; see Ralph T. Coe, “Claude Monet’s ‘Boulevard des Capucines’: After a Century,” Bulletin (The Nelson Gallery and Atkins Museum) 5, no. 3 (February 1976). Eugene Victor Thaw confirmed that the painting was purchased directly from Mrs. Marshall Field III not Mrs. Marshall Field IV; see letter from E.V. Thaw and Co. to Meghan Gray, NAMA, July 14, 2011, NAMA curatorial files.