Dobiaschofsky
Old Port of Marseille
Oil on canvas
Original catalogue wording
"Alter Hafen von Marseille".
Öl auf Leinwand
Date to be documented
Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed
View the lot at the auction house ↗SwissArtGallery · Documented identity
Robert Charles Gustave Laurens Mols
Born : 1848Died : 1903Documented citizenships : Belgium
The Belgian painter, engraver and draughtsman Robert Mols devoted a significant part of his work to depicting cities and ports, while also exploring flowers and still lifes. He left for France at the age of seventeen, was in Barbizon around 1868, where he came into contact with Antoine Vollon, and returned to Antwerp in 1870.
After his return, he painted flowers, still lifes and seascapes in a style described as clear and realistic. Le Canal Saint-Pierre à Anvers, painted in oil on canvas in 1874, attests to his interest in urban sites; from 1873, he exhibited frequently at the Salon. The works mentioned include Le Vieux Port de Marseille, dated 1879, and Le Président Carnot passant la revue de la flotte française, à Boulogne, dated 1890.
Panoramas form another part of his output: he produced panoramas of Venice, of Paris seen from the top of the Louvre, and of Antwerp, the last commissioned by his native city. His interest in port spaces is also evident in Le canal de La Peyrade à Sète, executed in 1891 and held at the musée Paul-Valéry, and in the photogravure Le Port du Havre, made in 1882 and held at the British Museum. Following a visit to Constantinople, he also painted La mosquée Yeni Cami on panel.
In 1893, Mols collaborated on Piet van Engelen’s Diorama du Congo, created for the 1894 Antwerp World’s Fair. In December 1986, the musée des beaux-arts du Havre purchased L’avant-port, sortie d’un transatlantique, an undated oil painting on canvas measuring 2.2 × 1.4 metres. His career was marked by his appointment as a Knight of the Order of Leopold in 1879 and by the Knight’s Cross of the Legion of Honour, which he received in 1900.
This profile brings together identity references for Robert Charles Gustave Laurens Mols and paintings, drawings and works on paper documented in auction catalogues.
3 references are documented at Dobiaschofsky. Each record links to its source; the amounts are not a general valuation of the artist’s work.
Works recorded at auction
Dobiaschofsky · Lot 858
View of a Town by a River
Oil on hardboard
Original catalogue wording
Stadtansicht an einem Fluss.
Öl auf Htf
Date to be documented
Published result : 850 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 1200
View the lot at the auction house ↗References excluded from statistics: attributions and special lots
These references are shown separately because of their attribution or lot composition. Each record states the reason.
Dobiaschofsky · Lot 3664
Attributed to ROBERT CHARLES GUSTAVE LAURENS MOLS — View of Haarlem
Oil on hardboard
Original catalogue wording
Attribué à ROBERT CHARLES GUSTAVE LAURENS MOLS — Ansicht von Haarlem.
Öl auf Htf
zugeschrieben
Date to be documented
Attributed
Published result : 330 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 600
View the lot at the auction house ↗Sources and references
SwissArtGallery documentary note based on the cited sources. Titles, media and qualifications are provided in the profile language; the original catalogue wording remains available in each record.
Documentation updated : 2026-10-19