Rue St Germain
Rue St Germain
Thomas Shotter Boys (1803-1874)
Rue St Germain l'Auxerrois, Paris
indistinctly signed and dated 1831 lower left and inscribed lower right: Rue St Germain L'auxerrois 1831
pencil
16.9 by 22.1cm., 6 ½ by 8 ¾ in.
Boys lived in Paris from 1823 until 1837, working as an engraver, lithographer and later watercolourist. A watercolour by Boys, taken from a similar viewpoint was sold at Sotheby's on 26th November 1998, lot 83 (£13,000) and was purportedly published as a lithograph in 1830. A similar drawing to this is in the Musée Carnavalet, Paris). Café Momus, which is the building to the right, is the setting for most of the second act of Puccini's `La Bohème'
Provenance:
Anonymous sale, Oger and Semont, Paris, 27th May 1991, lot 81;
Private Collection until 2008