Very good condition, unlined; under UV: no inpainting apparent.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

In 1884, Raffaëlli wrote that "character is the physiological and psychological constitution of man; character is man's distinctive trait." (Jean François Raffaëlli, "Étude des mouvements de l'art moderne et du beau caractériste," Catalogue illustré des oeuvres de J.F. Raffaëlli exposés 28 bis, Avenue de l'Opéra, Paris, 1884, p. 27). Raffaëlli's quest to find a "type" or a "vehicle" to express this intangible representation of human character led him to Italy, Spain and Africa, only to return him to France where he found his "muse" in the faces of his fellow countrymen, especially the inhabitants of Paris and its surrounding suburbs. Albert Wolff, the art critic for Le Figaro, commented that Raffaëlli was indeed a modern painter with new ideas.  But of even greater significance, he was human (Albert Wolff, "Jean François Raffaëlli," Les Types de Paris, Paris, 1889, p. 6).  Van Gogh also grappled with Raffaëlli's treatise and found it a complex theory to pictorialize  (Letter of 6 July 1885, The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh, Greenwich, 1959, vol. 2, pp. 394-395).  However, in the time-worn, distinctive faces of🐽 his hum𒉰ble models – the ragpickers, chimney sweeps, beggars or garlic sellers – Raffaëlli's goal was realized.

We find no better example of this idea than in the present work (also see frontispiece of this catalogue). Here, in a recently discovered painting, Raffaëlli depicts a subject he most likely observed on his daily walks.  While many of his scenes show Asnières in the background, characterized by an industrial landscape of spouting smokestacks, here the setting appears to be a large Parisian square or grand boulevard identifiable by the carriages, park benches and figures promenading. The centerpiece of the composition is the arresting figure of an older man, dressed in a heavy black suit as he moves his way across the square or place (perhaps the Tuileries).  Tied to a leash are two dogs, their markings identifying them as English pointers, while a smaller terrier scurries off in the lower left.  Most curious of all are the two newly born puppies---perhaps the offspring of the two older dogs---which the man holds in each hand.  This man, whose face reveal😼s a "road map" of a hard life, is another "type" observed by  Raffaëlli; he is someone who, on this day in a Paris square, earns a day's wages by selling puppies decorated with red ribbons to e♛legant bystanders.