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This rare canvas signed by Pierre Prins (1838–1913), a major figure of Impressionism, depicts a view of the Quai d'Orsay in Paris, painted in 1876. The composition brings out the banks of the Seine, a monumental bridge and moored barges, bathed in a vibrant, shifting light typical of the Impressionist sensibility. Prins's free, luminous touch renders Parisian urban life and landscape with a quiet poetry, close to the concerns of Monet and Sisley.
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Born in Paris in 1838 and died in the same city in 1913, Pierre Prins was a painter, pastellist and sculptor. He was meant to take part in the first Impressionist exhibition, at Nadar's studio, in 1874: he had entrusted twelve paintings to a friend, the sculptor Émile Philippe Scailliet, to pass on to Sisley — they were never delivered. Some sources list him as one of the society's founders. However, the list of the 22 subscribers to its charter, dated 27 December 1873, does not include his name. He spent time with Sisley and Manet on the banks of the Seine, at Chatou. He met Édouard Manet through his sister Pauline, who was very close to Suzanne Leenhoff, the painter's wife. In 1869 he married Fanny Claus, with Manet as witness: she is the woman standing, parasol in hand, beside Berthe Morisot in Manet's « Le Balcon » (The Balcony). He exhibited at the Salon in 1868 and 1878, and the Galerie Georges Petit showed 43 of his pastels in 1890. The Musée d'Orsay holds three of his pastels: « Bords de Seine à Andé-Portejoie », « Sur la Manche le soir » (Berck-sur-Mer, summer 1873) and « Soleil blanc dans la Manche le soir », which entered the collection as a donation from Pierre René Prins in 1966 and were transferred to the Musée d'Orsay in 1986.
Sources: Pierre Prins — Wikipédia · Société anonyme des artistes peintres, sculpteurs et graveurs — Wikipédia · Exposition Pierre Prins — Musée Fournaise, Chatou · Liste des 22 souscripteurs, impressionism.nl · Pierre Prins — trois pastels, base Collections du Louvre et d'Orsay