Nicolae Grant (Bucarest 1868 - Argeș, Rumanía 1950).
Le poulder

Le poulder

Black, blue and yellow graphite on paper. Signed in pencil in the lower left corner: "N. G."; dated in pencil, lower right: "Le Poulder aout 97". August 1897.

The term polder of Dutch origin refers to a wet, marshy land reclaimed from the sea which, when drained, is used for agricultural, industrial or harbour purposes. Referred mainly to the North Sea, especially the Netherlands, they are extensions that have also been built in other areas of Europe, such as France (La Vendée or Saintogne), Belgium, or Italy.

The drawing in question is by the artist Nicolae Grant (Bucharest 1868 - Argeș, Romania 1950) and entitled Le Poulder, who signed it with his initials "N. G." and dated August 1897. It must have been a sketch of some difficult-to-identify coastal area in France, Belgium or the Netherlands. Grant used graphite pencil in different colours, such as black, blue and yellow, which in some areas, due to juxtaposition, turns greenish in tone.

Nicolae Grant, also known as Nicolae Effingham Grant, was a Romanian painter, son of the British diplomat, businessman and philanthropist Effingham Grant (1820 Guernsey, UK - 1892 Bucharest), secretary to the British Consulate in Bucharest, and thus settled in Romania. One of his sisters, and therefore the painter's aunt, was Maria Rosetti (1819 - ca. 1893), a Romanian journalist and publicist of Scottish origin, considered the first woman journalist in Romania. Nicolae, influenced by his father's passion for art and antiques, trained at the School of Fine Arts in his native city, where he was a pupil of Theodor Aman and Gheorghe Tattarescu. But it was his experience under the guidance of the master painter and sculptor Jean-Léon Gérôme (Vesoul 1824, Paris 1904) that introduced him to the Parisian art of his time. He lived for a time at Lascar Catargiu 40 (Budapest) in a late 19th century mansion. Later, in 1893, he travelled to the coast of Brittany, Val-Andre, the island of Brehat and Pont-Aven, influenced by the Impressionist painting of those years, to which geographical area the present drawing may correspond.

In 1910, after marrying his first wife Alexandrina Bengescu (1873-1933), daughter of the writer George Bengescu, he established his new residence in the Villa Grant. After his wife's death, he remarried Charlotte Rouby, a Frenchwoman, with whom he lived until a lung disease took the painter's life. Anecdotally, two of his sons, Petre and Șerban, became professional ice hockey players in the Romanian national team.

Measurements: 15.7 x 24.2 cm.

מידות:

15.7 x 24.2 ס"מ