Alexandre-hyacinthe Dunouy (1757-1841) View Taken In The Park Of Saint-cloud

Alexandre-Hyacinthe DUNOUY
(Paris, 1757 – Jouy en Josas, 1841)
View taken in the park of Saint-Cloud
Oil on paper mounted on canvas
H. 31.5 cm; L. 24 cm
Around 1820

Provenance:
-Perhaps sale after the death of the artist, March 7-8, 1842, Paris, Hôtel des Ventes de la rue des Jeuneurs, No. 97 of the catalog, titled Study: view taken at Saint-Cloud
-Perhaps Sale of a nice collection of paintings, November 4-5, 1842, Paris, 2 place de la Bourse, Hôtel des Commissaires-Priseurs, No. 38 in the catalog, titled View taken in the park of Saint -Cloud

An important neo-classical artist from the end of the 18th and the first third of the 19th century, Dunouy is part, with painters like Jean-Victor Bertin or Bidauld, in the tradition of historical landscape initiated by Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes. He made two stays in Italy: the first time at the end of the 1780s, on the advice of Hubert Robert, where he traveled through the Roman and Neapolitan regions; another time between 1810 and 1815, during which he was Murat's official painter in the Kingdom of Naples. Returning to Paris, after a stay of several weeks in Lyon, at the time of the Restoration, he continued to receive commissions from the State under Louis XVIII, and to exhibit at the Salon until 1833. Paul Marmottan said of him: “…he must be placed in the forefront of landscape artists…as imagination, poetry, colors and drawing…Dunouy appeared in all the exhibitions of his time”.

Stylistically, our study of the motif corresponds well to the calm and pastoral atmospheres, the soft light, and the palette of gray/green/blue tones favored by Dunouy, which make him perhaps the most “Poussinesque” and also somewhat reminiscent of the works of Etienne Allegrain produced more than a century earlier. Dunouy had already represented Saint-Cloud in a painting presented at the Salon of 1804, General view of Saint-Cloud and its surroundings, acquired by the State. The artist frequented the place again as part of the castle decoration project entrusted to him by Louis XVIII. At the Salon of 1819, he exhibited a View of the park of Saint-Cloud, taken from Sèvres, perhaps the canvas (46 x 65 cm) kept at the Sceaux museum.

For our painting, Dunouy probably stationed himself near the Breteuil pavilion; we recognize the old Saint-Cloud bridge over the Seine, and in the background a little to the left, the silhouette of Mont Valérien. Our work certainly corresponds to the study acquired at the after-death sale of Dunouy's workshop, and resold at auction a few months later with several other works by the artist also coming from his after-death sale.