Drawings and Watercolors by Constantin Guys from the Collection of Baron Napoleon Gourgaud, Paris

Ernest Constantin Guys (1802-1892) could be called “The Historian with a Pencil” for his drawings and water colors give a vivid idea of the brilliant period of the Second Empire. While he faithfully records the life under Napoléon III, he also depicts events and people of other parts of Europe and even Africa.

Guys was a tireless traveler and, with pencil in hand, was forever busy portraying daily happenings, drawing true to life what his artist’s eyes beheld. On the strength of his ability of quick sketching and snapshotlike conceptions he became the correspondent of the “London Illustrated News,” for which paper he depicted the Crimean War.

Guys was admired by illustrious men of his time who sought his companionship. Théophile Gautier collected his drawings with great zeal, and so did Manet, Saint Victor, Célestin Nanteuil, Sainte Beuve and Delacroix.

Constantin Guys exercised great influence upon the artists of his time and of a later generation. He was a source of inspiration to Degas and Toulouze-Lautrec [sic] and today we consider him a classic exponent of an art which will live forever.

The collection we are presenting is that of Baron Napoleon Gourgaud. This fervent admirer of the illustrious artist acquired his works from 1900 to 1905. He was able to make his selection from the most interesting and most characteristic works, and his collection is one of the most representative of Constantin Guys’ drawings and water-colors.