Louis Cabié Large Painting River Landscape Dordogne Signed Hst

Louis Cabié, Dordogne landscape, oil on canvas, 1909

Oil on canvas signed lower left Louis Cabié, dated 1909, depicting a river landscape in the Dordogne, with wooded bank, vast calm body of water, bluish reliefs and the silhouette of a religious building on the opposite bank.

The composition is organized around a large mirror of water occupying the lower part of the painting. To the left, the clear riverbank, enlivened by trees in ochre, green and brown tones, opens up the depth of the landscape. In the center, the river leads the eye to the opposite bank, where a dark building stands out, possibly a chapel or religious complex. In the background, the bluish hills close the horizon in a soft, silent atmosphere.

Corot's influence is particularly noticeable in the treatment of the foreground on the left. Here, the riverbank, foliage and reflections are constructed by softened values rather than precise description. Cabié slides the earth towards the water in a series of half-tones, light ochres, muted greens and light touches at the river's edge. This subtle entry into the landscape recalls the Corotian way of suggesting a place through air, humidity, reflections and the vibration of values.

This filiation continues in the distance: the bluish hills, melted into the atmosphere, do not seek a strong topographical effect, but install a peaceful depth. The large, silvery, horizontal body of water also reinforces this post-Corot sensibility of silence, restraint and nuance. Cabié, however, retains a firmer construction, more rooted in the Southwestern landscape, with the dark religious edifice serving as a point of balance to the entire composition.

Louis Cabié, a landscape painter from Bordeaux, follows in the tradition of the Barbizon school and late 19th-century plein-air painting. A pupil of Henri Harpignies, he developed a body of work attentive to the rivers, reflections, valleys and landscapes of Aquitaine, Dordogne, Saintonge and Périgord. This painting fully illustrates his taste for calm landscapes, wide waters, clear skies and harmonies of bluish grays, muted greens, browns and ochres.

Condition: good overall presentation condition.Minor soiling and slight, slight stretcher mark. In its antique wood and gilded / patinated stucco frame, with ornamental decoration, with wear from use. Antique label and exhibition number on back. See photos.

Dimensions: canvas 49 x 60 cm; with frame 76 x 65 cm.