Artwork by Charles Edouard Huot,  Le Sanctus à la maison
Thumbnail of Artwork by Charles Edouard Huot,  Le Sanctus à la maison Thumbnail of Artwork by Charles Edouard Huot,  Le Sanctus à la maison Thumbnail of Artwork by Charles Edouard Huot,  Le Sanctus à la maison

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Cowley Abbott
326 Dundas St West
Toronto ON M5T 1G5
Ph. 1(416)479-9703

Lot #110

Charles E. Huot
Le Sanctus à la maison

oil on canvas
signed lower left; titled on a plaque affixed to the frame
14 x 19 ins ( 35.6 x 48.3 cms )

Estimated: $5,000.00$3,000.00 - $5,000.00

Provenance:
Christopher Varley, Toronto
Acquired by the present Private Collection, June 2001
Literature:
Jean-René Ostiguay, “Charles Huot”, Ottawa, 1979, unpaginated, for a larger version of the subject
Born in Quebec City, Charles Edouard Huot moved to Paris at age nineteen to attend the École des Beaux-arts and study in the workshop of Alexandre Cabanel. He participated in numerous exhibitions there, including the1876 Salon. He married Louise Schlachter in 1885, returned to Canada in 1886 on the promise of a large commission of painting the Church of the Holy Saviour in Quebec City. This project firmly established Huot’s career, and it led to many more commissions from religious and political groups.

In “Le Sanctus à la maison”, Huot depicts the more pared-down subject of a French-Canadian interior scene featuring a woman at prayer. Kneeling on the floor, the woman rests her arms on a small chair and holds a rosary in her right hand. The room, though minimally decorated, contains many household objects and subtle details that form a narrative to the setting. The woman appears to have been in the middle of preparing a meal when she knelt down to pray; we can see a bowl of potatoes and a knife beside her, potato skins and cabbage leaves on the floor to the right, and a partially cut cabbage on the bench by the windowsill. Behind her, inside the lit wood stove, is a lidded cast iron pot. Just below the stove is a white cat and a kitten drinking milk from a bowl. In the background of the room we see more cooking tools hanging on the walls, a steep ladder staircase and a door to the outside. The open window to the right shows a glimpse of a farm on a sunny day. Huot has created an intimate scene that gives a view into an authentic rural Quebecois household of the time.
Sale Date: December 6th 2023

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Cowley Abbott
326 Dundas St West
Toronto ON M5T 1G5
Ph. 1(416)479-9703


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Charles Edouard Huot
(1855 - 1930)

Charles Huot was born in Quebec City in 1855. Following studies in Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière and the École normale Laval in Quebec City, he obtained a scholarship for five years at the École des beaux-arts in Paris, and studied under Lefevre Niedermeyer and Alexandre Cabanal. He left at age 23 to travel around Europe and worked for a period of time in France as an illustrator.

Huot took part in the Salon de Paris in 1877 and earned an honourable mention. In 1886, he won a silver medal at the Blanc et Noir exhibition in Paris. He spent a total of 14 years in Europe. After returning to Canada in 1886, he settled in Quebec City where he produced many religious and historical paintings including his well-known canvases for the Quebec provincial government “Le premier parlement canadien” which hangs over the Speaker’s chart in the Legislative Assembly, and his “L’Ouverture du Conseil Souverain” for the Legislative Council. Both paintings are very large and show his fine craftsmanship and depth of knowledge of his subjects through considerable research. He also did a number of landscapes and portraits.

In 1903, Charles Huot returned to Europe with his family. After his wife died, in 1907, he returned to Quebec. His work then took a definite focus on painting history, with the work of the Palais législatif that would occupy him until his death, in Quebec City, in 1930.

Source: "A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, Volume II”, compiled by Colin S. MacDonald, Canadian Paperbacks Publishing Ltd, Ottawa, 1979