Brief Report
Maximilien Luce was strongly influenced by Signac, Pissarro and Seurat, and evolved to become one of the leading Neoimpressionist artists [Budde/ Schaefer 2001, p. 226]. This small painting on an artists' board close to the standard P6 format, depicting a coastal motif at Saint Tropez, illustrates his pointillist technique of the 1890s very clearly. The board is unprimed, and can be seen in many places which have been left free of paint. Heavy browning of the board, intensified further by a non-authentic coat of varnish, has today produced a conspicuous contrast between the bright paints and the picture support itself. This is especially noticeable in the peripheral regions to the left and right, and also in the foreground (figs 8, 9, 10). There are no hints of any composition planning in the form of either drawing or painting. The paints are opaque throughout, and their application, in the complementary pairs blue/yellow-orange and green/red-violet, while wet-in-wet in places, was predominantly wet-on-dry (fig. 8). The individual strokes and dabs, often curved, are often oriented to the individual motif. The signature, with the date and location, was only added when the painting was finished (fig. 6). Verso there are areas of paint applied in no particular direction probably by the artist himself, using both a brush and a palette knife; there is also a handwritten calculation, albeit largely illegible (fig. 2).
Maximilien Luce
born on 13 March 1858 in Paris,
died on 6 February 1941 ibidem
Fig. 02
Verso, with detail in raking light (top left), the use of a palette knife for the application of the paint verso is discernible
Fig. 03
Raking light
Fig. 04
UV fluorescence
Fig. 05
UV fluorescence, vers
Fig. 06
Details, signature, date and location in incident light (top) and under UV stimulation (bottom); the microscopic photograph shows semi-transparent reinforcement of the letter "p" (arrow) (M = 1 mm)
Fig. 07
Aspects of the picture support: in a lateral view of the board (top), the fraying at one corner reveals the numerous layers; recto the heavily browned unprimed board, consisting of different fibres, can be seen where it has been left untouched by the paint applications (bottom), microscopic photographs (M = 1 mm)
Fig. 08
Detail, loose application of paint, its direction often determined by the motif, with numerous areas of the very dark, unprimed board left visible
Fig. 09
Details of the paint application in incident light (left) and under UV stimulation (right); the strong fluorescence of the red lake can be easily seen
Fig. 10
Detail in raking light, brushwork in the region of the sky and dry brushstrokes in the tree on the right-hand edge of the picture
Fig. 11
Use of cobalt violet, microscopic photograph (M = 1 mm)
Fig. 12
Detail, photograph under UV stimulation, remains of varnish in the crevices of the surface structure point to the removal of a previous coating