L.lainon Oil On Canvas From The 19th Century "the Forgotten Mill"

The Old Mill – Memory of a Forgotten World In this scene imbued with silence and melancholy, L. Lairon depicts the remains of a watermill invaded by nature, dominated by a large tree with gnarled branches. A stone cross, erected at the foot of the trunk, suggests the memory of a deceased person or a sacred place, giving the composition a symbolic significance. The painter evokes here the passage of time, the disappearance of the rural world and the fragility of existence. The mill wheel, half-submerged, seems to have stopped forever - frozen like the memory that the artist tries to preserve on the canvas. The late Romantic style, the dark palette and the choice of subject make it a meditative work at the crossroads of landscape and symbol, of great Art. Style: a very expressive late Romanticism, where emotion takes precedence over academic rigor. This evokes the influences of symbolism or the troubadour movement of the late 19th century. The original canvas, stretched on an old frame (we can clearly see the canvas numbered with a stencil, “8” and “PH”), which is typical of fine art supplies of the late 19th century. This rich frame, molded gilt wood, with the presence of some traces of woodworm but which in no way spoil the beauty of this painting. Signature lower left and dated 1893. Dimensions 58.5 x 47.5 cm Dimensions of the work 46 x 35 cm