NEW YORK, N.Y.- Bonhams announces its sale of European Paintings, October 26 in New York, simulcast to San Francisco. The sale will feature a wide range of paintings spanning several centuries and artistic periods.

A true highlight to the sale comes from Romanian artist Nicolae Grigorescu. “The Bull Cart,” featuring day-to-day peasant life with the backdrop of a rural landscape, is only the second known painting by the artist to come to public auction in the West (est. $100,000-150,000), making it a piece of great interest among Romanian collectors. After abandoning the idea of becoming an academic painter and leaving the studio of Sebastien Cornu in Paris, Grigorescu was greatly influenced by numerous French painters in the village of Barbizon, near the Forest of Fontainebleau. It was there that he was influenced by Jean-Francois Millet’s renderings of working peasants, Corot’s trees and Troyon’s animals. Discovering his appreciation and love of the simple lives of peasants, he started to paint en plein air, developing his own language for landscapes, which made him a role model for future generations of artists. Grigorescu is considered today to be the founder of modern Romanian painting.

Madalina Lazen, Bonhams Senior Specialist of European Paintings New York, comments that, “The significance of “The Bull Cart” by Nicolae Grigorescu lies in the fact that it is the first major work by the great Romanian master to appear on the North American art market. It is not only rare but also of exceptional quality. It has been in private hands for over 50 years. A household name in Romania, Grigorescu continues to gain recognition in the West. Bonhams is thrilled to introduce his work to a wider audience.”