Brief Report

This little painting of a rural scene was doubtless a preliminary study for the later work Ferme à Saint-Parize-le-Chatel, 1862 [see Stein 2003]. It is a particularly open-mesh weave, which was primed after stretching. On this light-coloured ground, Jongkind first, without any discernible underlying sketch, established the light and shadow areas of the scene in the underlayer with brownish to greenish tones, which he then, as the painting proceeded, worked out in increasingly greater detail.

Under the microscope, all the edge regions of the painting reveal blue fibres embedded in the paint layer and in some cases covered by subsequent layers of paint (fig. 11). Comparative microscopic inspection reveals a great similarity between this material and the fibres of what is known as "indigo paper". These fibres got here before the painting was finally completed. It is conceivable that the work was started in the open air and was wrapped in indigo paper in order, for example, to be carried to the studio. Especially near the edges, the fibres were pressed into the paint layer while it was still wet. Presumably the painting was finished in the studio. From start to finish it was executed quickly, and the covering over or correction of minor elements in the picture also speaks for a rapid working method.

An unusual feature is the stencilled company mark verso, whose orientation and position correspond to the horizontal use of the picture support of the standard size 4 (portrait). In spite of great similarities with the traditional trade-marks of producers and retailers of artists' supplies, this is the mark of a company which, as Beugniet Ad., first traded as a framemaker at 18 rue Lafitte in 1847 before moving a few doors down the street to new premises at no. 10 [cf. Constantin 2001, p. 51]. The Beugniet company consisted of a number of family members, and the new address provides evidence for their activity as art dealers, and the inscription "Tableaux Aquarelles" on our trademark could also be an indication that this painting was first offered for sale by the artist through them, and that the stamp was applied in this context. However the possibility cannot be totally excluded that the Beugniet company, given its activities in the field of restoration (which can be documented from 1862), restored Jongkind's picture (which the artist had signed in 1861) and/or provided it with a frame, and applied their stencil verso in this connexion. 

Johan Barthold Jongkind
In the Environs of Nevers, 1861, oil on canvas, 24.7 x 32.8 cm, WRM Dep. FC 666

Johan Barthold Jongkind

born on 3 June 1819 in Lattrop (today community of Dinkelland, Overijssel),
died on 9 February 1891 in la Côte-St-André, France

Brief report with complete data as downloadable pdf-file

Further illustrations:

Fig. 02

Verso


Fig. 03

Ultra-violet fluorescence


Fig. 04

Verso; the variations in the thickness of the different layers of paint are visible in transmitted light


Fig. 05

Detail signature and date


Fig. 06

Detail of verso, stamp of the art dealer Beugniet (?)


Fig. 07

Detail in raking light: the surface structure in the
region of the signature, strongly characterized by
the texture of the canvas


Fig. 08

Detail of the figure: Jongkind used contour lines for the purpose of accentuation


Fig. 09

Detail of the edge of the picture showing how the
priming and paint layers were applied


Fig. 10

Open mesh weave with recognizable skin of the priming material in the interstices between the threads, and the black ink/ paint of the stencilled dealer´s mark, microscopic photograph (M = 1 mm)


Fig. 11

Blue fibres in and under the paint layers along the edges of the picture point to its having been packed in blue paper while still in an unfinished condition, microscopic photograph (M = 1 mm)


Fig. 12

Letter “A” on the otherwise unidentified seal on the upper edge of the stretcher verso, microscopic photograph (M = 1 mm)