Laurent Guétal (1841-1892). The Rondeau Farm, Near Grenoble, Isère

Oil on canvas, signed and dated 1883 lower right. A year has passed since Guétal's admission to the Paris Salon. This event is always considered the consecration of talent. The year 1882 marked for him one of the decisive dates in his artistic career. As Marcel Reymond points out in the catalog of the exhibition dedicated to the painter at the Grenoble Museum in 1892 “we could note a new style resulting from the trips he made to Paris from 1882; manner which can be characterized by greater perfection of technique...". Let's return to Paris at the Salon where for the first time Guétal is exposed to the gaze of a jury. Visiting the aisles, he met the painter Alexis Mazerolle who introduced him to Henri Harpignies, once an attentive and grateful student of Jean Achard. Guétal, who was also marked by the influence of Achard from 1875, listened to Harpignies with avidity. It is interesting to know the impression that Guétal in turn made on the great landscaper and that Charles de Vergennes, who accompanied Guétal on this day of his visit, tells us: “…I learned from Mazerolle that Harpignies was deeply struck by the abbot's talent, especially when he learned that he had always worked far from Paris and the masters, that he had made himself in a way; I also know that Harpignies was one of those who pushed him the most to get him a reward at the Salon.” Exhibition: • Grenoble Salon 1883 • Grenoble Guétal Museum May-June 1892 No. 171 of the catalog established by M. Reymond and Ch. Giraud Provenance: • Caron Grenoble Collection (in 1892)