Brief Report
This small work, painted by Toulouse-Lautrec before he was 20, has a pencil underdrawing directly on the pale unprimed poplar panel, as shown by the infra- red reflectogram (figs. 1-3). The fishing scene, in the underdrawing with an additional upturned boat on the left, was painted rapidly and confidently (fig. 12). It would appear that Toulouse-Lautrec painted this small picture in the open air and used a palette box, or what the French call a boîte à pouce, as well as a thin wood panel prepared by the Parisian dealer Berville from an originally larger size in order to fit the fastening device in the lid of the box (figs. 5, 12). The unpainted edges and the fastening point at the bottom, somewhat off-centre, are characteristic signs of the use of this aid to open-air painting (figs. 1, 5). The pale picture-support (Fr. panneau bois blanc sans apprêt), which was supplied specially for these palette boxes, makes its presence apparent in the painting as a highlight. Toulouse-Lautrec worked on the picture from the harmonious sky down to the foreground, placing the colour fields in loose juxtaposition. The border areas were subsequently touched up in places (fig. 8). The brush-strokes and paint consistency vary a great deal and testify to a confident and rapid working technique. (fig. 9). The last thing that Toulouse-Lautrec did was to add the small sailing-boat in the background, which is not in the underdrawing (fig. 10). On the reverse of the panel is a delicate drawing of a horse (fig. 2).
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Fishing Boat, 1880, oil on poplar, 14.0 x 23.3 cm, WRM Dep. FC 719
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
born on 24 November 1864 in Albi,
died on 9 September 1901 on Castle Malromé, Gironde
Further illustrations:
Fig. 02
Verso (the picture has been rotated through 180°)
Fig. 03
Infra-red reflectogram
Fig. 04
UV fluorescence
Fig. 05
Detail, unpainted area near the place at the bottom where the panel was fastened to the palette box
Fig. 06
Detail of verso in raking light; the short side is roughly sawn
Fig. 07
Detail, dealer’s mark verso
Fig. 08
A slightly different blue was used by Toulouse-Lautrec to touch up large gaps in the paintwork Microscope photograph (M = 1 mm)
Fig. 09
Wet-in-wet brush-stroke, microscopic photograph (M = 1 mm)
Fig. 10
Sailing boat in the background, added last of all,
microscope photograph (M = 1 mm)
Fig. 11
Underdrawing and visible poplar panel microscope photograph
(M = 1 mm)
Fig. 12
Palette box in the 1888 Lefranc-Bourgeois catalogue, p. 92:
The lower illustration clearly shows the lateral grooves into which the panel was slid, the front of the flip-up lid, and the off-centre fastening for the panel when inserted
