Pictures of the Month | September 2008
Picture of the Month
September 2008
The Pond at Montfoucault [1875]
by Camille Pissarro
This enchanting, late-summer scene seems an ideal picture for the month of September — when we may first notice the leaves showing a hint of turning, the nights starting to draw in and a slight chill is felt in the evening air.
Painted in 1875, this rustic scene of a peasant woman minding a group of four cows drinking at the water’s edge, shows a large pond on the farm owned by Pissarro’s friend, Ludovic Piette, just outside the little Normandy town of Montfoucault, 225 km west of Paris. Pissarro often stayed in this area and frequently painted the grounds, house and woods of the Piette estate. Two smaller painted versions of this view exist, as well as a preparatory drawing of the composition — a fact that seems to undermine the spontaneity suggested by Pissarro’s loose and energetic brushwork here.
The glimmer of the changing season is evident in the glowing auburn-reds, burnt-oranges and warm, gilded-yellow hues that make up this richly luminous, heavily worked painterly patchwork. Pissarro used a palette knife to apply his multiple layers of oil paint, resulting in a thickly encrusted surface that indeed seems to recall the crunching rustle of fallen leaves.
In a palette of buttery creams, soft yellows and delicate flecks of candyfloss pink, the artist wonderfully captures the glimmering reflections of sunlight that break through the trees onto the water surface. This area of reflection charmingly throws the surrounding greeny shadows and the darker foreground figures into relief. It creates an enclosed arc that runs around the edge of the pond and gives an illusion of depth to the composition, as well as adding a sense of peaceful, private intimacy to this quiet and self-contained landscape.
Still retaining glimpses of a heady, luscious bloom in the bright grass-greens and bushy backdrop, this restful work allows us to savour the warm rays of summer while contemplating the cooler seasons ahead.
Kathryn Murray, Gallery Assistant
| What is your favourite work of art in the Barber Institute galleries? Drop us a line at info@barber.org.uk and let us know, and we could feature your choice in a future Picture of the Month. |