Lot 60: * William Degouve de Nuncques (Belgian, 1867-1935) The greenhouse

William Degouve de Nuncques (Belgian, 1867-1935)
The greenhouse
signed and dated 'W D/de/N 08' (lower left)
oil on board
56 x 72.5cm (22 1/16 x 28 9/16in).
Footnotes

Provenance
Ex collection Helena Anna Baroness Van Heerdt, The Netherlands
Thence by descent to the present owner
Private collection, South Africa

We are grateful to Ronald Feltkamp for confirming the attribution to William Degouve de Nuncques on the basis of photographs. The work will be included in the online catalogue raisonné, no.4.1908.018.

William Degouve de Nuncques was a self-taught artist. Born in the Ardennes, he was one of the first generation of Belgian Symbolists, exhibiting with La Libre Esthétique (The Free Aesthetics) society in Brussels in the late 19th century. Among his early works, La maison aveugle (1892, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo) was considered a major influence on the Surrealists, especially René Magritte (Belgian 1898-1967).

Nuncques travelled extensively and produced a wide and varied body of work, from atmospheric nocturnes, to snow-covered forests and Gothic landscapes. His work is represented in public collections in Brussels, Antwerp and Otterlo.