Alexandre-hyacinthe Dunouy (1757-1841) View Taken From The Park At Saint-cloud

Alexandre-Hyacinthe DUNOUY
(Paris, 1757 - Jouy en Josas, 1841)
Vue prise dans le parc de Saint-Cloud
Huile sur papier marouflée sur toile
H. 31.5 cm; L. 24 cm
Circa 1820

Provenance:
-Maybe sale after the artist's death, March 7-8, 1842, Paris, Hôtel des Ventes de la rue des
Jeuneurs, catalog no. 97, titled Etude: vue prise à Saint-Cloud
-Peut-être Vente d'une jolie collection de tableaux, November 4-5, 1842, Paris, 2 place de la Bourse,
Hôtel des Commissaires-Priseurs, catalog no. 38, titled Vue prise dans le parc de Saint-Cloud

An important neo-classical artist of the late 18th and first third of the 19th centuries, Dunouy, along with painters such as Jean-Victor Bertin and Bidauld, was part of the historical landscape tradition initiated by Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes. He made two trips to Italy: the first in the late 1780s, on the advice of Hubert Robert, where he explored the Roman and Neapolitan regions; and the second between 1810 and 1815, during which time 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 state commissions under Louis XVIII, and to exhibit at the Salon until 1833. Paul Marmottan said of him: "...he must be placed in the first rank of landscape painters...for imagination, poetry, color and drawing...Dunouy appeared at all the exhibitions of his time".

Stylistically, our motif study fits well with the calm, pastoral atmospheres, soft light, and palette of gray/green/blue tones prized by Dunouy, making him perhaps the most "Poussinesque" neo-classical landscape artist, and also somewhat reminiscent of the works of Etienne Allegrain produced over a century earlier.
Dunouy had already represented Saint-Cloud in a painting presented at the Salon of 1804, Vue générale de Saint-Cloud et de ses environs, acquired by the State. The artist returned to Saint-Cloud as part of Louis XVIII's project to decorate the château. At the Salon of 1819, he exhibited a Vue du parc de Saint-Cloud, prise de Sèvres, possibly the canvas (46 x 65 cm) preserved at the Musée de Sceaux.

For our painting, Dunouy was probably stationed near the Pavillon de Breteuil; we can make out the old Saint-Cloud bridge over the Seine, and in the background, slightly to the left, the silhouette of Mont Valérien.
Our work certainly corresponds to the study acquired at the after-death sale of Dunouy's studio, and resold at auction a few months later along with several other works by the artist also from his after-death sale.