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The Complete Works of Philippe Smit
by Andreas Narzt and Florence Castellani

Catalogue entry

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Photo: Roger / Studio Sebert; © FdDPS
Additional images
Original frame designed and painted by the artist.
Original frame designed and painted by the artist.
Photo: Roger / Studio Sebert; © FdDPS
Keywords
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Classification: Pastel
Theme: landscape
Medium: Pastel
Support: On cardboard
Year: 1932
PS 401
Chartreuse de la Verne
1932
Pastel on cardboard
16 11/16 x 22 11/16 in. (42.5 x 57.5 cm) (sight size)
Signed lower right: Philippe Smit
Provenance
Lotty Urban-Leteneur
Geneviève Tambuté-Defarges (by descent)
Florence Leteneur (gift from the above in 2014)
Exhibitions
No known exhibitions.
Literature & Primary Sources
Philippe Smit 1932a
ALS to Nicolaas Urban. n.d. [January 1932].
Notes

"un petit mot car Dientje [Berendina] ta déja ecrite/ cette sensplendide promenade[,] ce pays est/ parfois très beau, Mais pour nous c'est/ un changement dont il est très dificile/ en deux mois de temps de realisér en/ peinture quelques chose de beau surtout que/ la saison n'es pas ce que l'on peut dire/ a souhait[é] pour un peintre [...] figure toi que la chartreuse de la Verne/ est entouré d'une fôret chataignier/ jamais de ma vie j'ai vu des chataignier[s] pareille[s]/ d'une beauté, Millet aurait agenouyez/ devant, tellement rare, il faudrait la/ plume d'un Rollinat pour tant de beauté [...]" [sic] (a short note as Dientje (Berendina) has already written to you about this magnificent trip, this country is sometimes very beautiful. But for us it is a change which makes it very difficult to achieve something good in painting in two months, especially when the season, it must be said, is not good for a painter (….) imagine that the Chartreuse de la Verne is surrounded by a forest of chestnut trees, never in my life I have seen chestnut trees so beautiful, Millet would have knelt before, so rare, one would need the pen of a Rollinat for so much beauty …) (Philippe Smit 1932a)

Additional images
Philippe Smit 1932a, p. 2 & 3 with a sketch of the pastel (private archives, Paris).
Philippe Smit 1932a, p. 2 & 3 with a sketch of the pastel (private archives, Paris).
Record last updated September 14, 2024. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Narzt, Andreas and Castellani, Florence. "Chartreuse de la Verne, 1932 (PS 401)." In The Complete Works of Philippe Smit. www.philippesmit.com/catalogue/entry.php?id=401 (accessed on July 19, 2025).