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

Catalogue entry

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Photo: Studio Sebert; © FdDPS
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Classification: Pastel
Medium: Pastel
Support: On cardboard
Year: 1933
PS 413
The Chapter House, Thoronet Abbey
1933
Pastel on cardboard
40 3/8 x 34 7/8 in. (102.5 x 88.5 cm) (sight size)
Signed and dated lower left: Philippe/ Smit/ 1933
On the back: a metal plate: Lottie Urban on the frame lower left.
Collection Florence Leteneur-Castellani, Paris
Inventories
Inv. Lotty Urban-Leteneur, n.d. [ante 1953], s.n., private archives: no. [24]: p. [1], Pastels: L’Abbaye du Thoronet (Intérieur).
Inv. Leteneur, n.d. [1977], n.p., s.n., private archives: no. [52]: p. [5], chambre de monsieur: Smit Philippe - 'Abbaye du Thoronet'/ Pastel signé en bas à gauche 1933, 102 x 89 [cm].
Exhibitions
No known exhibitions.
Literature & Primary Sources
Massé 1920–1935
Massé, René. Journal. 1920-21, 1924, 1929-31, 1933-1935, 02-04-1933, p. [22] ("… d) Ancienne Abbaye …").
Notes

"[…] Philippe, Lotty, Trui and I are in Thoronet, you know this beautiful abbey of which uncle [Philippe] has made a pastel [MPK03]. Yesterday we were here again and your uncle was touched by its beauty, today we have come back for a smaller pastel, a small one, but work for two days."1

"Gare de Lyon pour Montereau (8h.41 – 10h.24)/ Philippe vient me chercher à la gare. […] Arrivée au Château. […] L’atelier (les tubes de couleurs)/ les nouvelles œuvres faites dans le Var [et à Fontainebleau]./ [...] d) 'Ancienne Abbaye' (pastel) au premier plan colonne/ massive, base et chapiteau, à gauche le cloitre, à droite/ porte et escalier, tons dorés, belle harmonie. […]" (Gare de Lyon to Montereau (8:41 – 10:24). Philippe comes to meet me at the train station. … Arrival at the Chateau. … The studio (the tubes of colours) the new works done in the Var [and in Fontainebleau]….d) Old Abbey (pastel) in the foreground, massive column, base and capital, to the left the cloister, to the right the door and staircase, golden shades, beautiful harmony. …) (Massé, 2 April 1933, p. [21 & 22])

1. "[…] Ph.[ilippe] Lot[ty] Trui en ik zijn te Thoronet, je weet wel die prachtige abdij waarvan oom een pastel heeft gemaakt [MPK03]. Gister waren we ook hier en werd oom [Philipp] weer zo getroffen door de schoonheid ervan, dat wij vandaag weer zijn gekomen om een kleinere pastel te maken, een kleintje, maar werk voor twee dagen. […]"(Berendina Urban, ALS to Theodore and Marijke Pitcairn, Sainte-Maxime, n.d. [14 March 1933 postmark], 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. "The Chapter House, Thoronet Abbey, 1933 (PS 413)." In The Complete Works of Philippe Smit. www.philippesmit.com/catalogue/entry.php?id=413 (accessed on May 15, 2025).