Details

Object type

painting

Title

A Corner of the Louvre

Artist/Maker

Antoine Vollon artist

Culture/School

French

Place Associated

France, Paris, Louvre (place depicted)

Date

1885-1900

Materials

oil on panel

Dimensions

framed: 515 mm x 596 mm; unframed: 318 mm x 400 mm

Description

Although Vollon is famous as a painter of still lifes, during the latter part of his career – from about 1885 - he also painted landscapes, seascapes and cityscapes. Many of these paintings, like A Corner of the Louvre, reflect his growing interest in the work of the Barbizon artists and of Impressionism.

It is a grey, rainy day and crowds of hurrying pedestrians, umbrellas held high, bustle across the Pont Royal. Vollon suggests their gestures with hasty, fluid, strokes of paint. The solid, blond stone structure of the Pavillon de Flore of the Louvre is set against the deep dark green of a corner of the Tuileries Gardens. In the distance we see the apartments of the Rue de Rivoli but we do not see the river Seine immediately below us, hidden from view.

One of the most successful painters of his generation, Vollon is usually classed as a Pre-Impressionist. Like his artist friends Daubigny and Boudin he worked through the innovations of Impressionism, but while taking on board their brushstrokes and speed of observation he, like Daubigny and Boudin, never used reflected light, preferring colours that were more dark and dull. The spontaneity of Vollon’s technique is seen here in his juicy handling of thick paint. While it is obvious that this painting was executed quickly, it is possible that it was done either outside from nature - it is a small oil on panel – or from a window on the left bank of the Seine.

When Vollon died in August 1900 numerous artists and critics attended his funeral at the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris. The critic Arsène Alexandre, reviewing Vollon’s career wrote ‘M.Vollon was above all a popular painter. The public gathered in throngs before his paintings at the Salon, since the artist managed to achieve a successful composition solely through the vigour and the depth of his execution. As a ‘painter of objects’, M. Vollon had few rivals among the Establishment artists. His talent, marked by a rare candour and much good humour, involved no ambiguity whatsoever…’

This painting was gifted to Glasgow Museums by Sir John Richmond who also gave Pissarro’s Tuileries Gardens which shows the view from the other side of the Louvre.

Credit Line/Donor

Gifted by Sir John Richmond, 1948

ID Number

2813

Location

Kelvingrove Picture Promenade