Rene Billotte Pastel Night Landscape

View of a cottage, one window lit from within, by a river at dusk. The pastel is signed lower right and is framed in a molded oak frame with a separate gilt view dating from the late 19th century. In its absence, the pastel measures 32x44 cm. René Billotte was born in Tarbes in 1846. Allied to Eugène Fromentin, he also became his student. A friend of Guy de Maupassant, who made him one of the protagonists of Bel Ami, he is renowned for his views of Paris and its suburbs, his snowy landscapes, and his skill in rendering light. Our landscape could have been made during one of his excursions to Normandy with Guy de Maupassant. In 1890, he was one of the co-founders of the Société nationale des beaux-arts.