Charles Malle: The Harbour In The Winter, Rouen, Normandy

A strong, atmospheric pastel painting infused with light, which depicts a busy working harbour, peopled with almost Lowry-like figures.

It is a work dating from circa 1960 by Charles Gleize - known as Charles Malle - a French landscape painter best known for his views of ports, the countryside, rivers and beaches.

Born in 1935 in Douai in Northern France, he was brought up in a family of craftsmen. His Post-Impressionist paintings are very popular and collectible in both France and the United States, with his work having been sold at Christie's and Bonhams.

Malle studied at the Fine Art Academy of Saint-Luc-de-Tournai in Belgium, then at the Higher National School for Art and Textile Industry in Roubaix, France. He also trained in drawing and painting and studied art history.

He is associated with the School of Montmartre, a loosely knit group of painters that goes back to the time when Montmartre was little more than a bohemian village. He followed in the footsteps of Alphonse Quizet, Elise Maclet and Maurice Utrillo.

While often painting in Paris, he especially delighted in depicting the coastline, ports and harbours of Normandy - Calais, Boulogne and Dunkirk, Dieppe as well as le Treport, Fecamp and Trouville.

Our view of the old harbour of Rouen, which no longer exists, is signed at the lower right and measures 28.5 x 46.5 cm at sight. The overall framed size is 48 x 63 cm