Early 20th Century Impressionist Oil Painting of a Rainy Street Scene in Gilt Frame

Rain has just stopped and the whole street is a mirror. This early 20th century impressionist oil painting catches that moment exactly, with a wet road reflecting the pale sky, a handful of figures under umbrellas crossing a bridge, a red cart parked by a shopfront and a single green tree standing up against the grey. Ochre stucco houses with terracotta roofs and green shutters climb towards hills behind, and the light has that washed, silvery quality that only comes after a downpour.

The painting is worked in oils on canvas with the loose, confident handling of an artist trained in the plein air tradition. It is signed lower right, though the signature is indistinct, and inscribed "Gora." lower left, which suggests a place name and points towards the Alpine or Adriatic towns that Scandinavian and German painters loved to visit between the wars. We have not been able to identify the hand, and the picture stands very happily on its own merits.

It sits in a wide gilt frame with a deep moulded profile, and the frame measures 61 x 49 cm overall. The gilding has softened and rubbed along the edges and there are a few small losses to the gesso at the corners, all of which reads as honest age and suits the painting far better than a bright new frame would. It is wired and ready to hang.

We would hang it where its cool tones can breathe, above a limewashed mantelpiece or in a hallway with pale walls, where the gilt frame catches lamplight in the evening. It also works beautifully in a study or bedroom grouped with other small landscapes and townscapes, and the muted palette sits well against navy, sage or warm white. Anyone who has stood in a European town square just after the rain will recognise this one immediately.