Albert Gabriel Rigolot

Albert Gabriel Rigolot was born on 28 November 1862 in Paris, France, in the 14th arrondissement according to French biographical sources. He began his art training in a public school in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, on the rue Singer, before becoming a pupil of Leon Germain Pelouse and Auguste Allonge, working with them at Cernay-la-Ville and Marlotte. He made his Salon debut at the Salon des Artistes Francais in 1886 and exhibited there almost continuously afterward, receiving an honorable mention in 1889, a bronze medal in 1891, and a silver medal in 1892.

Rigolot's landscape and orientalist work has been associated with the Barbizon tradition. He taught at the Academie Julian, where his students reportedly included the "French Art Missionaries" sent from Utah around 1890. At the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris he was awarded a silver medal, and in 1901 he was named a Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur.

Rigolot died on 25 April 1932 in Paris, in the 16th arrondissement according to French Wikipedia. The consensus dates across biographical sources are 28 November 1862 to 25 April 1932.

Rigolot's standing was established through official channels rather than through independent art criticism: Salon medals in 1889, 1891, and 1892, a silver medal at the 1900 Exposition Universelle, and the Legion of Honour in 1901. Modern dealer writing, notably from Rehs Galleries, frames him within the Barbizon lineage and praises his handling of light in riverscapes, harvest scenes, and orientalist subjects, though no verbatim assessment from a named critic writing in a major periodical could be located in the available research.

Rigolot's market is that of a historical Salon-era painter sold almost entirely at auction rather than through primary galleries; no current gallery or estate representation could be confirmed. The best-documented auction result identified in research is USD 20,881 for a painting titled Dusk, sold at Sotheby's London in 2007; the source citing this figure as the artist's record price gives only the year, not the exact day and month, of the sale. A separate French market-analysis site cites a higher range up to about EUR 82,700, tied to a painting titled Villageois dans le desert, but does not name the auction house or sale date for that figure, so it should be read as an indicative market ceiling rather than a confirmed record. No catalogue raisonne exists for the artist.

The best documented auction record identified in research is USD 20,881 for a painting titled Dusk, sold at Sotheby's London in 2007, though the exact day and month of that sale are not specified in the source. A higher figure of around EUR 82,700, tied to a painting titled Villageois dans le desert, is cited by a separate market-analysis source but without a confirmed auction house or sale date, and should be treated cautiously rather than cited as a settled record. There is no catalogue raisonne, so provenance and period exhibition history (Salon livrets, state purchase records) carry unusual weight in authentication. Collectors should also note that sources vary on the specific arrondissement of his birth and death (14th and 16th respectively), though this does not affect the consensus dates of 28 November 1862 to 25 April 1932.