Brief report
This small study in all probability served as the basis for a more finished composition. The panel on which the picture is painted has been primed with a pale beige ground, which is clearly visible where the panel has been left unpainted and integrated into the colour composition (fig. 5).
The sketching of the planned areas of colour and the figures and landscape elements was done in two stages: first the position of the figures was established with a lead or graphite pencil, and then the contours were added in black India ink in almost painterly fashion (figs. 3, 7, 8).
The paint was applied in up to three layers, using quite viscous material, so that a lively surface structure results. This is however quietened by evenly applied horizontal or diagonal brushstrokes (fig. 10).
Whether the study was executed en plein air cannot be determined. It is true that there are two nail-holes next to each other in the bottom left- hand corner, which could be the result of the canvaspins commonly employed at the time for handling paintings while still wet (fig. 6). The right-hand nail-hole, at least, was not painted over. The fact that there are no such holes in the other corners could be the result of a later cropping of the panel. In addition, some impasto areas were pressed and soiled while they were still damp. Whether this could have been caused by the painting’s having been kept in a paint box, or happened while it was being carried from outdoors to indoors, must likewise remain an open question. These traces could also have arisen while the painting was in storage in a studio.
The studio stamp in the bottom right-hand corner of the picture was added at a later date (fig. 4)
Hippolyte Petitjean
born on 11 September 1854 in Mâcon,
died on 17 September 1929 in Paris
Fig. 02
Verso
Fig. 03
Infra-red reflectogram
Fig. 04
Studio stamp recto, “Atelier Hipp Petitjean”, microscope photograph (M = 1 mm)
Fig. 05
Beige ground, microscope photograph (M = 1 mm)
Fig. 06
Adjacent holes in the panel, microscope photograph (M = 1 mm)
Fig. 07
Underdrawing in lead or graphite pencil, microscope photograph (M = 1 mm)
Fig. 08
Underdrawing in black Indian ink, microscope photograph (M = 1 mm)
Fig. 09
Detail in raking light, painterly pentimento of the left-hand figure in the foreground
Fig. 10
Detail in raking light, directional brush-strokes
Fig. 11
Detail under UV fluorescence stimulation, conspicuously pink
fluorescence of the red lake
Fig. 12
Verso, detail of the stamp with the inscription “Centenaire Hipp[olyte] Petitjean”; easily legible only under UV fluorescence stimulation as it is written in pale red on a dark brown board