We are delighted to offer for auction this extremely detailed and finely executed watercolour by the French artist HENRI SCHAFER, sometimes listed as Henry, who has signed and titled the painting in the lower left hand corner.  The painting depicts a street scene in Lisieux in Normandy, France with the Cathedral in the background.  It is a busy street with the townspeople going about the their business, a flower stall on the left and a lady selling flowers sitting on the right.  There is a large, ornate clock hanging from one shop front with a shrine to the Madonna on the first floor on the corner.  There is the shop of Rouheur the Tailor on the right of the street.  It is a typical example of the detailed street and cathedral scenes favoured by this artist.

HENRI SCHAFER (1833-1916) studied at l'Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris and painted town and city scenes and cathedral interiors in Belgium, Germany, Spain and France.  He lived for part of his life in Islington, London (which is why he is often listed as Henry Schafer) and the townscape paintings of Henri Schafer are often misattributed to the British artist Henry Thomas Schafer and their biographical details are occasionally merged, most notably in Benezit.  The catalogues of auction houses regularly confuse the two artists.  Distinct biographical sketches may be found in Christopher Wood's Dictionary of Victorian Painters.

Doing this item description caused great difficulty and confusion for the reason above, as the signature identical to the one on this painting, is listed on findartinfo as belonging to Henry T. Schafer.  After considerable research on the internet, and reading Christopher Wood's book we believe that the paragraph above is totally correct.  Anyone wishing to check for themselves, may visit the following site, created for someone from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who clearly sets out the differences. http://ffscat.lcs.mit.edu/ffshtml/texts/FFStothr.htm and click on both artists' names.

To put it simply, as far as we can tell, HENRI SCHAFER painted all the townscapes and cathedral scenes that are attributed to Henry T. Schafer, as Henry T. Schafer was a genre, figure and still life painter and sculptor, who mainly painted young ladies in draperies in oil, as shown on artnet.com.  Also on artnet.com, Henri Schafer has 292 auction listings for townscapes and cathedral scenes.  They, at least, appear to have got it right, unlike some of the major London auction houses.

HENRI SCHAFER, does not appear to have exhibited his work, although his output was prolific, especially in his later years when, according to Christopher Wood, he fell into debt.  When checking his auction prices, please note that his name is variously spelt as Schafer, Schaffer, Schaefer and Schaeffer and his Christian name can be Henry, Henri or Herman, but they are all townscapes or cathedrals. His oils achieve prices in the thousands and the watercolours in the middle hundreds.

The painting in mounted with washlines and a gold bevelled edge and is framed in a 1 1/4" gilt frame, which is in as new condition.

Image size:  17 3/4" x 13 1/2"  -  45cm x 34cm

Frame size:  26 1/2" x 22"  -  67" x 56"

Medium:  Watercolours

Condition:  Excellent.  No foxing or fading.  The mount and frame are in excellent condition.

Paypal only, please, from UK and International Buyers.

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Returns will only be accepted if the item is not as described and after contact is made with the seller.  Any returned item must be returned in original condition, securely packed, and by Royal Mail Special Delivery,  within 7 days of receipt.