Brief Report
Like the little panel titled The Coast at Heyst (WRM Dep. FC 715) this work is one of a series of studies with which the artist captured the light moods on the Belgian coast. The precise time and tidal situation are noted verso (“mercredi 19 août 1891 – / 3 heures – / marée descendante” i.e. Wednesday 19 August 1891 – 3 [pm] – ebb tide) (figs. 2, 6). The painting was executed on an unprimed study panel made of poplar, known as a panneau d’étude. In brisk horizontal strokes Lemmen laid in the main colour areas, before covering them with numerous individual dots of paint in the Pointillist manner. In many places the pale colour of the poplar is integrated into the composition, this being particularly evident along the sides, which however were painted over at a later date by someone else (fig. 4).
Georges Lemmen
The Coast at Heyst, Tide Receding, 1891, oil on poplar, 12.3 x 21.5 cm, WRM Dep. FC 716,
Georges Lemmen
born on 25 November 1865 in Schaarbeek, near Bruxelles,
died in July 1916 in Ukkel
Further illustrations:
Fig. 02
Verso
Fig. 03
Raking light
Fig. 04
UV fluorescence; the retouched areas at the sides stand out by dint of their different fluorescent behaviour
Fig. 05
Monogram, microscopic photograph (M = 1 mm)
Fig. 06
Inscription verso: “mercredi 19 aôut 1891 / 3 heures - / [mar]ée descendante -”
Fig. 07
Estate administrator’s (?) stamp verso, microscopic photograph (M = 1 mm)
Fig. 08
Saw-mark dating from time of the panel’s production, microscopic photograph (M = 1 mm)
Fig. 09
Start of the horizon line on the left, with blue underpainting; microscopic photograph (M = 1 mm)
Fig. 10
Paint layer in the region of the sky, with wet-in-wet dabs with the brush, microscopic photograph (M = 1 mm)
Fig. 11
Impasto modelling of the paint layer, microscopic photograph (M = 1 mm)
Fig. 12
Green pigmentation with a transparent appearance, microscopic photograph (M = 1 mm)
