Brief Report

Thin beads of paint along the edges, lateral traces of fastening on the picture support and signs of early pressure in the few white impasto areas suggest that this small-format study was painted in a paint-box (figs. 4, 9). The reduced palette is characterized by quick, dynamic applications of paint with quite broad brushes, the dominant colours are strongly contrasting blue and cream tones, supplemented by brown and green. A striking feature is the frequently diagonal orientation of the brush-strokes with which the predominantly creamy paint was applied, in many parts with very little paint on the brush. (fig. 7). Because of the extremely small amount of paint that Seurat used for the first lay-in of the building and the figures , not all the colour applications mixed wet-in-wet in a painting that was in all probability executed in a single session. The sketch in thin dark-blue paint remains partly untouched beneath the subsequent brushstrokes, an indication of a rapid drying period (fig. 8). The panel of poplar wood, known as a panneaux d’étude, close to the standard format P2, was re-used by Seurat for this street-scene. Before the study was executed, the artist completely covered an underlying painting with a layer of light-coloured paint applied with vigorous, irregular brush-strokes. This off-white intermediate layer serves as a ground for the visible composition. The only signs of the rejected sketch are dark blue and green tones as well as a reddish-brown on the originally unprimed wood at the edges of the picture in places (fig. 6). Here and there fine early shrinkage cracks and wrinkles in the visible layer of paint also point to a previous use. The X-ray of the rejected composition shows individual pointillist applications of paint, but no concrete depiction is visible on account of the low degree of absorption (fig. 3). Verso, there is an historical inscription in the form of the figures “26”, which indicates the posthumous registration of the study (fig. 5).

Georges Seurat
Street Scene, c. 1883, oil on poplar, 16.5 x 24.7 cm, WRM Dep. 822

Georges Seurat

born on 2 December 1859 in Paris,
died on 29 March 1891 ibidem

Brief report with complete data as downloadable pdf-file

Further illustrations:

Fig. 02

Verso


Fig. 03

X-ray reveals re-use


Fig. 04

Detail in raking light, the brush-strokes of the paint layer and signs of pressure in the impasto sections are obvious


Fig. 05

Detail of the bottom right-hand corner: the inscription “26” is the inventory number assigned by the executor of the artist’s estate (applied upside-down with respect to the
picture)


Fig. 06

Green colour blend of the first painting along the edge of the picture (1), off-white intermediate coat (2), visible paintlayer (3), microscope photograph (M = 1 mm)


Fig. 07

Applications of paint mixed wet-in-wet, microscope photograph
(M = 1 mm)


Fig. 08

Thin applications of paint were applied to already partly dry layers, microscope photograph (M = 1 mm)


Fig. 09

Early shrinkage cracks in the intermediate coat have been partially retouched during a restoration which cannot
be dated, microscope photograph (M = 1 mm)


Fig. 10

The defect near the edge indicates that the painting was executed in a paint-box (area indicated by red marking
on the inset), microscope photograph (M = 1 mm)


Fig. 11

An originally oval, fragmentary historical paper sticker which cannot be more closely identified, microscopic photograph (M = 1 mm)