This early 20th-century oil painting by French artist Eugène-Louis Gillot (1868-1925) depicts a harbour scene during World War I. A large vessel looms on the left while, through a haze of steam and smoke, a hospital ship marked prominently with red crosses passes beyond.
Gillot was an exceptional painter of atmosphere. During the First World War, he served with the French Navy and produced works recording the conflict, including a piece titled 'An Attack by Flame-throwers', now held by the Imperial War Museum. His experiences during these years brought him into direct contact with naval subjects and ultimately led to his appointment as an official painter of the French Navy in 1921.
This work appears particularly interesting in that context. The distant vessel is unmistakably associated with medical service. Three red crosses are visible: one prominently displayed along the side and two painted upon the forward-facing sides of its funnels. Its pale colouring and conspicuous markings are also consistent with the internationally recognised appearance of hospital ships from the period.
An exact identification, however, remains tantalisingly unresolved. Several French hospital ships possessed broadly comparable characteristics, including the 'André Lebon', which served from 1916. Period photographs show her with two funnels bearing cross insignia, although other elements of her configuration do not correspond precisely with Gillot's vessel. Given the painter's loose, atmospheric technique, and his willingness to subordinate detail to the overall effect of a scene, comparisons based upon individual structural features should be treated cautiously.
The reverse provides another useful clue. The canvas bears the stencil of the highly regarded Parisian artists' colourman Paul Foinet Fils, 21 rue Bréa, an address associated with the firm from the early 20th century. It establishes an appropriate material context for Gillot's mature career.
Stylistically and historically, a date during or around the First World War seems particularly plausible. Perhaps most compelling is the mood Gillot has created. The enormous dark hull at left bears down upon the composition, almost swallowing the figures beneath it, while smoke, steam and industrial haze dissolve the harbour beyond. Against this heaviness, the little flashes of brilliant red identifying the hospital ship become strangely poignant. Seen in the context of wartime France, such a vessel may have carried wounded servicemen returning from the machinery of war, but also medical care, sanctuary and hope.
There's also an intriguing documentary trail still to follow. Gillot exhibited works relating to his wartime and naval experiences, including at an exhibition held at Galerie Lambert in Marseille in July 1918, while surviving exhibition catalogues and archival material concerning the artist are preserved at the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Further investigation of these records may eventually establish whether this particular harbour scene was exhibited, titled or connected with an identifiable vessel.
For now, therefore, we would resist attaching a specific ship's name to it. Instead, we consider it most probably a French naval harbour scene featuring a hospital ship, painted during or in the aftermath of the First World War.
For a collector with an interest in maritime or First World War history, this is a very interesting project.
Signed in the lower right and held within a wooden frame with stepped mouldings.
Learn more about Eugène-Louis Gillot in our directory.
Medium: Oil on canvas
Overall size: 40½” x 33” / 103cm x 84cm
Year of creation: c. 1917
Labels & Inscriptions: Stencil on the reverse relating to the Parisian artists' colourman Paul Foinet Fils, 21 rue Bréa,
Provenance: Private collection, Denmark.
Condition: Cleaned. Revarnished. Craquelure in areas. The paint layer is stable. Frame in good condition with minor age-related wear.
Artist’s auction maximum: £7,659 achieved in 2003 for ‘Départ Pour la Chasse à Saint-Lazare’.
Our reference: BRV2322
