Lot 156: Silbert, Harbor Scene at Night, Oil on Canvas
A twentieth-century oil on canvas painting depicting a harbor at night or during twilight. The composition is rendered in an atmospheric tonalist style, focusing on a dark quay with silhouetted structures that resemble industrial cranes or masts. The sky is filled with thick, swirling clouds, through which a pale light breaks, reflecting off the water’s surface in the foreground. The artist has employed a heavy impasto technique, particularly in the highlights of the clouds and the water, giving the work a textured surface. The palette is restricted to shades of deep forest green, grey, and ochre. The work is signed in the upper right quadrant in dark paint, which reads Silbert followed by a final character that appears to be an i or y. The canvas is housed in a substantial gilt wood frame featuring a rope-twist inner border and a scrolling foliate pattern along the outer edge. A small white rectangular label with the number 21 is affixed to the lower right corner of the frame.
Condition report:
The painting appears to be in overall good condition. The canvas is well-tensioned on its stretcher. There is some minor surface dirt and fine craquelure visible in the areas of thicker impasto (photo 1). The gilt frame shows minor wear consistent with age, including small scuffs and a few tiny chips to the gilding along the outer edges (photo 1).
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