Offered by MLD Antiquités
18th and 19th centuries Furniture and Fine Art
This iconic painting by Jules Dupré is not on display in our Gallery; it is preserved in our private collection.
We are honored to present a major Impressionist work by Jules Dupré, a world-renowned French painter featured in prestigious museums such as the Louvre, Musée d'Orsay, the Frick Collection, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
This magnificent painting was acquired by the renowned collector and patron Henri Rouart. Upon his death, his children dispersed his vast collection from December 9 to 11, 1912, at the Galerie Manzi-Joyant, where this painting, listed as number 197, was acquired by the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune.
This painting is listed in the catalogue raisonné of Jules Dupré by Madame Aubrun, under number 116 on page 82. It is one of Dupré's major works and has been part of prestigious private collections and galleries.
It is an oil on its original canvas, signed in the lower left corner, depicting a landscape of L'Isle Adam. The eye is immediately drawn to the quality and technique used in the representation of the sky. Upon closer inspection, one understands the admiration Vincent Van Gogh had for Jules Dupré. The captivating trees then draw the viewer's attention. The light emanating from this painting draws you in and immerses you in the scene.
The Beethoven of Landscape: The tranquil simplicity of Jules Dupré's rural paintings conceals a certain lyricism. Passionate about music, the painter transposes this musicality onto the canvas, expressed in a symphony of colors orchestrated by light.
The Trees or Sovereign Nature: The tree stands as the main motif of the painting, dominating the composition with its unyielding verticality.
Dimensions:
- Without frame: Height 18.3 inches - Length 22 inches.
- With frame: Height 25.6 inches - Length 29.1 inches.
Our painting is in perfect condition, with no damage or repainting. Since some Impressionist painters and those of the Barbizon School expressed their wish not to varnish their paintings, we have chosen not to undertake any cleaning. This painting is intended either to remain in our collection or to be acquired by a discerning collector or museum, which will decide to undertake the cleaning and varnish finishing. We present it in a period giltwood frame, which appears to be its original frame.
Biographies
Jules Dupré (1811-1889):
Born in Nantes on April 5, 1811, and died in L'Isle Adam on October 6, 1889, Jules Dupré was a French landscape painter and a pioneer of French landscape painting. From 1830 onwards, he left his studio to paint en plein air around Paris, making him one of the forerunners of Impressionism.
To say that Jules Dupré is a painter of nature is an understatement. His works depict only woods, fields, clearings, peaceful pastures, and expanses of water reflecting a changing sky. From his early ceramic decorations to his rural views of L'Isle-Adam, where he settled permanently in 1850, his work testifies to his love for the landscape.
Although associated with the Barbizon School, he remains an unclassifiable artist, drawing from both Romanticism and Naturalism, inspired by Dutch masters of the 16th and 17th centuries and the English painter John Constable.
Intimate Realism: Although he broke with the classical landscape tradition by painting en plein air from 1830, Dupré preferred long studio working days. This singularity distinguishes him from the painters of the Fontainebleau forest, such as Théodore Rousseau, and leads him to create scenes without precise geographical references, evoking typical landscapes and specific moments. Engaged in solitary meditation, he freely arranges his canvases, sacrificing the truth of the scenes to his imagination, especially after 1850. The result is introspective landscapes, marked by their creator, as if only he could bring them to life. "Nature is nothing, man is everything," he liked to theorize, reaffirming the intimate presence of the artist at the heart of all creation.
Jules Dupré is often considered one of the founders of the Barbizon School, alongside Rousseau, Millet, Daubigny, and Corot. His contemporaries, such as Eugène Delacroix, Camille Corot, and Van Gogh, praised the quality and expressiveness of his skies.
Henri Rouart (1833-1912):
In his fifties, Henri Rouart devoted himself entirely to his passion for painting. A former student of Corot and Millet, his art is close to the Impressionists. He participated in their exhibitions from 1868 and was present at seven of the eight Impressionist group exhibitions starting in 1874 at Nadar's.
A renowned collector and patron, he supported artists such as Delacroix, Courbet, Daumier, Millet, Corot, Dupré, Manet, Berthe Morisot, Toulouse-Lautrec, Renoir, Puvis de Chavannes, Pissarro, and Degas. Three Impressionist exhibitions were held thanks to his financial support, and he helped his friends by purchasing many of their works.
After his death in December 1912, his children sold his fabulous collection, marking the beginning of the rise in prices of Impressionist paintings.
Salons - Exhibitions
Jules Dupré exhibited at the Salon from 1831 with seven paintings, five in 1833, four in 1834 and 1835, and two in 1836. In 1839, he presented seven canvases, landscapes of the Indre, Corrèze, and Normandy regions, before losing interest in the Salon, only to reappear in 1852 with three paintings, and finally in 1867 (World Exposition) with thirteen paintings.
Museums
The exhaustive list of museums holding works by Jules Dupré would be too long. Notable names include:
The Louvre, Musée d’Orsay, Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Art Institute of Chicago, DePaul University Museum in Chicago, Cleveland Museum of Art, Detroit Institute of Arts, Bass Museum in Miami Beach, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Brooklyn Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Frick Collection, Memphis Brooks Museum, San Francisco De Young Museum, National Gallery of Art in Washington, National Museum of Fine Arts in Rio de Janeiro, Ordrupgaard Museum in Copenhagen, Statens Museum of Kunst in Copenhagen, National Art Museum of Azerbaijan in Baku, National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, National Museum of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires.
