Adolphe-félix Cals (paris, 1810-honfleur, 1880). "honfleur, The Butin Farm Under The Snow". 1878

Frame in wood and gilded stucco (usual wear). Frame dimensions: 57 x 72 cm.
Dimensions of the painting: 40.5 x 54 cm. Signed, located and dated lower right. The preparatory drawing appears on the canvas in the sky. The painting has been cleaned by our restorer. Exhibited in 1943 at the Galerie Jacques Dubourg in Paris. Bears the number 1489.
Adolphe-Félix Cals, born in 1810 in Paris and died in 1880 in Honfleur, is a French painter and engraver. In 1863, he exhibited at the Salon des Refusés alongside Claude Monet, Edgar Degas and Camille Pissarro.
Influenced by Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot and Jongkind, he works in grayer, less wild tones, moving closer to the Impressionists without however adopting their technique.
Shared between Paris and Honfleur since 1871, he finally decided to settle, in 1873, in this Norman port where many painters stayed.
A friend of Jongkind, he frequented the painters resident at the Saint-Siméon farm and even painted the farm on the grounds.
During the last ten years of his life, Cals painted the port, the sea and maritime professions; a serious, strong and very human painting. The soul of the models shines through in his extremely sensitive portraits. He is considered the first pre-impressionist by Georges Pillement.
At the invitation of Monet, he participated in the First Exhibition of Impressionist Painters, in 1874, in 1876, then 1877 and 1881 (tribute exhibition).
His life is described in detail in Arsène Alexandre's 1900 work entitled A.-F. Cals or the joy of painting.