Four Landscape Studies, an unusual and slighty

Dimensions : Stretcher : 8 3/8’’ x 13 9/16’’ (21.3 x 34.5 cm) - Framed : 12’’ x 17 1/4 ‘’ (30.4 x 43.8 cm)
Provenance: Galerie Claude Bernard (label on the back of the stretcher reading "Harpignies - Quatre études de paysage - 1852")


In this highly original painting, perhaps the only one of its kind in his whole production, Harpignies juxtaposes four landscape studies in the manner of a patchwork quilt. The barely sketched shapes and the use of bright colors give this canvas a resolutely modern spontaneity. These four landscapes, which could evoke four different moments in a single day, form together a quasi-abstract work that is disconcerting at first glance.

1. Henri Harpignies and the Barbizon School

In 1846 Henri Harpignies left his native Valenciennes to become a painter and entered the studio of Jean Achard (1807-1884) in Paris, at a time when the latter was increasingly involved with the painters of the Barbizon School. After two years of apprenticeship he travelled to Italy.
Back in France in 1850, Henri Harpignies joined Camille Corot (1796 - 1875) in Barbizon, and became influenced by his work. The two artists became friends and travelled together to Italy in 1860.

On his return from Italy in 1861, Harpignies had his first success at the Salon, where he became a regular exhibitor. He frequently painted in Hérisson in the Bourbonnais, as well as in the Nivernais and Auvergne. A prolific painter and draughtsman, he left a considerable body of work consisting mainly of landscapes but including also a few portraits.

2. Description of the artwork

On an oblong canvas (a format he was very fond of), Henri Harpignies juxtaposes four small landscape studies, probably executed in plein air, as if he was using a drawing sheet. The two views on the left evoke the countryside (or the mountains), while the two views on the right represent an urban landscape, sketched from a high vantage point that offers a broad view of the sky.

The brushstrokes are freely executed, and the juxtaposition of these four landscapes creates the impression of a quasi-abstract composition from a distance, the meaning of which only becomes apparent as we approach the painting. It is likely that these four landscapes were painted in a short space of time, and we could even imagine a narrative thread running through the same day, described in an anti-clockwise direction.

If we followed this idea, we would first have the start of a walk in a crystal-clear morning light at the top left. But the sky is already beginning to cloud over. Unfortunately, this walk must be interrupted by the arrival of bad weather (landscape bottom left).

Once back in town, the sky clears, the clouds giving way to a magnificent sunset in the evening. The sunset is the image that seems to us to be the most evocative and endearing one: with a real economy of means, a few barely sketched touches of color allow the painter to evoke the splendor of a sunset over the rooftops of a city.

The date of 1852 on the Galerie Claude Bernard label seems to us to be entirely consistent with the painter's artistic career. Having returned from Italy in 1850, Harpignies often painted at Barbizon, where he was influenced by Camille Corot. It is also interesting to compare the composition of this painting with a cliché-verre created by Corot in 1856 showing five landscape sketches (last photo of the gallery).

3. Framing

This painting is presented in a gilded wooden frame carved with rais-de-coeur and ribbon motifs, in the Louis XVI style but probably at the 19th century, and therefore contemporary to the painting.