Studio: international art (45.1909)

Henri Harpignies

A MORVAN LAND-CAPE (WATER COLOUR) BY HENRI HARPIGNIES

(By permission of Messrs. T Wallis 6° Son and Messrs. T. Agnew & Sons)

1866 that he received his
first medal at the Salon
and twice later in the
same decade — in 1868
and 1869— the same dis-
tinction was accorded to
him. In 1875 he was
made Chevalier of the
Legion of Honour, and
in 1897 the médaille
d'honnem of the Salon
was awarded to him. On
this last occasion a great
banquet, organised by the
landscape painter Guille-
met, testified to the
great respect in which he

Harpignies is quite different in
character from that of Bonington,
his water-colours showing a much
greater sense of composition,
while they have less impromptu.

As a draughtsman, also, Har-
pignies is distinguished, and he
attaches the greatest import-
ance to the cultivation of draw-
ing. “ One must practise draw-
ing as much as possible,” he
once remarked ; “ it is indis-
pensable. Nowadays it is far
too much neglected. Every-
where one sees the flou and the
vague : but I am certain that
some day artists will come to
see the value of precision, of
line.” Readers of The Studio
who wish to see some admir-
able examples of drawing by
M. Harpignies himself are re-
ferred to an article which
appeared in these pages in
April, 1898, where reproduc-
tions were given of a series of
drawings executed by him in
chalk, in lead-pencil, in wash,
and in a combination of lead-
pencil and ink.

M. Harpignies has been the
recipient of medals on more
than one occasion. It was in
266

“LES BORDS DE L’YONNE” (Ol l,) BY HENRI HARPIGNIES

(By permission of Messrs. T. Wallis or Son and Messrs. T. Agnew cr Sons)