Late 19th-century French School, *gathering By The Water’s Edge* – Oil On Panel

French School, late 19th century
“Gathering by the Water’s Edge”
Oil on panel
Unsigned
35.5 x 24 cm — 43 x 31.5 cm with frame
Very good condition
Carved and varnished oak frame, early 20th century

The eye is immediately drawn to her. Amid all this deep green, this white spot is the only point of light on the panel, and the painter has placed it well to the right, off-center.

A little girl of three or four, wearing a white dress, a blue blouse, and a ribbon in her hair. She’s already clutching a bouquet of yellow and red flowers—a real child’s bouquet, still a bit lopsided—and she’s bending down to pick one more. She’s completely absorbed; she doesn’t see us. The grass comes almost up to her waist.

And it is only afterward that we take in everything around her: the large pollarded tree on the left, its enormous stump, its trunks fanning out, the tangle of branches and leaves filling the entire upper part of the panel, the dark mass of bushes behind her. She looks tiny in there, and perfectly at peace. It is this sense of scale that gives this small painting its charm.

The painter did not set out to create a touching genre scene. He painted his woodland with a bold, textured style, using crisp impasto in the foliage and greens ranging from the deepest shades to silvery gray. Behind the low branches, the water of a river or pond, rendered with a few fluid white strokes. In the foreground, a light ochre dirt path that brings light back to the foreground.

A painting based on direct observation, in the spirit of the landscape painters who followed Barbizon, and a subject that is actually quite rare: the child is a landscape motif here, not the pretext for the painting.

Condition: very good. The panel is sound and flat, and the paint layer has retained all its texture. On the back, there are a few small, old holes (pinholes or tool marks), which do not affect the structural integrity of the support. The frame is carved and varnished oak, with wide, rounded, fluted molding. There is a slight amount of play in the corners, which have been reinforced with metal brackets on the back.

Work on view at the gallery (07240)
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