Jean-Charles Rémond (1795-1875) - View of the Canton of Berne in Switzerland

Jean-Charles Joseph RÉMOND (Paris 1795 - Paris 1875)
View taken in the canton of Bern - Switzerland
Oil on paper, mounted on canvas
H. 34.5 cm; L. 46 cm

Signed lower right
About 1835-1837

Son of a printer, Rémond became a pupil of Regnault in 1810, but it was Jean-Victor Bertin (his master at the Beaux-Arts de Paris in 1812), who directed him straight to the Grand Prix de Rome for historical landscape in 1821 with "Proserpine and Pluto" (between 1814 and 1816, Rémond abandoned painting at the insistence of his parents, in favor of a commercial activity). This excellent draughtsman had a precise and polished touch that suited the rules of the genre. But as soon as he arrived in Rome, he discovered nature and plein air painting; during this first Italian stay, which lasted five years, he painted numerous small format studies, with a touch that sometimes became broader and creamier, and a great quality of luminosity.
His subjects were the inner city sites of the Eternal City as well as the countryside and the more mountainous areas; he also went as far as Naples and Paestum.
Back in Paris, Rémond discovered his pedagogical inclinations, and at the same time as he opened a workshop in 1827 (where he trained Théodore Rousseau), he published two theoretical treatises, "Principles of Landscapes" and "Complete Course of Landscapes", just as Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes and Alphonse Mandevare had done before him.
In 1842, Rémond returned to Italy for several months, lingering particularly in Sicily. He ended his career with landscapes of Normandy and the Ile-de-France, with a last participation in the Salon in 1848.

A great traveler, Jean-Charles Rémond explored Italy, Sicily and part of France, and he circulated in Switzerland for two years (1835 to 1837). The catalogs of the Salons mention in these years views taken in Neufchâtel or in the canton of Bern. In the latter, the artist depicted the town and the lake of Thun, the heights of Grindelwald or Meiringen, or the banks of the Birs. The characteristic architecture of the Berne region, especially the gabled roofs, can be seen in our painting, which can certainly be placed in one of these places.