Alphonse Stengelin (1852-1938), Marine, Oil On Panel

Alphonse Stengelin (1852-1938
Marine
Oil on panel
Signed “Stengelin” lower left and countersigned on the back
27 x 33 cm

Painter and engraver born in Lyon in 1852, Alphonse Stengelin joined the school of fine arts in his hometown in the studio of Joseph Guichard. He assiduously frequents the museum on the Place des Terreaux where he exercises in contact with the paintings of old masters which are kept there. Between 1875 and 1910, the artist undertook several trips through Europe. He opened a studio in Montmartre and regularly stayed in the Netherlands from where he brought back seascapes and landscapes inspired by those of the great masters of the golden age of 17th century Dutch painting such as Jan van Goyen or Jacob van Ruisdael. Irresistibly attracted by the landscapes of this region, he made a specialty of the views of Holland which he presented at the Salon from 1878. The art critics of his time did not fail to place Alphonse Stengelin in a geographical and temporal in-between. In 1907, his name was given to one of the streets of the Dutch fishing village of Katwijk where he settled. The artist will then sign his works “Stengelin van Katwijk”.

The oil on panel that we offer represents a sea view made in the impressionist manner. It illustrates Alphonse Stengelin's interest in what he calls “the poetry of beautiful cloudy skies” whose tonal variations he likes to observe at length. He reproduces here, thanks to a lifted touch, the effects produced by the sky on the surface of the water as well as the intoxicating movement of the waves. This work places the artist more closely in line with the stylistic research of his contemporaries.