Mr. Mazaraki, Vence
Roger Janssen, Brussels (acquired from the above in 1954)
Private Collection, Europe (by descent from the above and sold: Christie's, New York, November 2, 2005, lot 393)
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Adolphe Tabarant, Utrillo, Paris, 1926, illustrated p. 13 
Georges Charensol, Maurice Utrillo, Paris, 1929, illustrated pl. 2
Paul Pétridès, L'Oeuvre complet de Maurice Utrillo, vol. I, Paris, 1959, no. 106, illustrated p. 157

The board is sound. The surface is clean and richly textured, notably the foliage and the figure at lower right. The board is nailed to a wooden panel. There are traces of an early signature that has been painted over, probably by the artist, at lower left; the artist has added a smaller later signature at lower right. Under UV light: some original pigments fluoresce, notably in the wall that runs left to right. A few scattered small spots of retouching in the sky and the pathway, otherwise fine. This work is in overall very good condition.
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.

Utrillo painted Église et rue de Montmagny while living in Montmartre circa 1910, during his so called “white period,” the most desirable and highly regarded epoch of his oeuvre. His focus on such solitary street scenes underscored a certain modesty when compared to the imagery of his avant-garde contemporaries, yet, and perhaps as a direct result, they quickly attracted the attention of esteemed writers and collectors. Writer-turned-art-dealer Louis Libaude discovered Utrillo during these early years and organized the artist’s first exhibition at the Galerie Eugène Blot in 1913.

Libaude wrote in the introduction to the exhibition catalogue, “Maurice Utrillo is the painter of Montmartre. Since Lépine, I believe no other artist has been able to render with such acute sensitivity the charm of this little provincial town, isolated on the summit of Paris. Utrillo excels in painting the cracked walls of the old houses. The smallest miserable façade takes on in his paintings an extraordinary intensity of color and life... He is also a painter of the suburbs... He loves the morose steeples of old churches, the deserted streets of the gloomy suburbs… Maurice Utrillo evokes, above all, for every sensitive Parisian the nostalgia of his native city, its sickly sky, its resigned houses” (quoted in Maurice Utrillo (exhibition catalogue), Carnegie Institute Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, 1ꩵ963, n.p.).