DOI Heft:
Nr. 193 (April 1909)
DOI Artikel:Segard, Achille: René Ménard: painter of classical landscape
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20966#0201
Rene Menard
Rene menard, painter of
CLASSICAL LANDSCAPE. BY
ACHILLE SEGARD.
Of imposing stature, with a thick black beard,
broad forehead, sparkling eyes, in his glance
an indefinable tenderness and power, which
qualities indeed emanate from his entire person-
ality, Rene Menard dwells at the top of a lofty
house in the Place du Pantheon. Beneath his
windows there range themselves in a charming
urban landscape the noble fane of the Temple, the
square of L’Ecole de Droit, the Rue Soufflot, the
library of Sainte Genevieve, and that peaceful
quarter of the town on the threshold of which St.
Etienne du Mont lifts its stately front.
That portion of the apartments which is open to
visitors comprises three rooms, usually thrown into
one: a small drawing-room, large studio, and a
little dining-room. A portrait of Mme. Menard
and some sketches of the artist’s children give an
air of domesticity to an interior of an otherwise
literary and archaeological appearance. Works of
art, articles of vertu, and furniture all harmonise
together and with the paintings by M. Menard
which hang upon the walls. These pictures give
an impression of repose, of grandeur, of stillness,
and almost always of poetry and ancient mythology.
Some are inspired by a Grecian portico and the
landscapes which may be surveyed from the
summit of the Acropolis at Corinth, others again
bring to mind the Temple of Segestus, the ruins of
Agrigentum, or the Temple of Neptune at Paestum.
Others again depict for us a beautiful nude girl on
the divine shores of Corfu, of whom one cannot say
whether she be goddess or mortal. Here is a Juge-
ment de Paris ; here, in short, are pictures large and
small, with no other subject than the sky, the
clouds, and the fields of France, but from each of
which emanates the sweetness, the serenity, and the
poesy of the choicest gems of literature.
When I endeavour to analyse the reason why I
have felt for so long this affection for M. Menard’s
pictures, the belief grows upon me that it is because
BY RBN£ MENARD
“ LE TROUPEAU ”
XLYI. No. 193.—April, 1909
17 5
Rene menard, painter of
CLASSICAL LANDSCAPE. BY
ACHILLE SEGARD.
Of imposing stature, with a thick black beard,
broad forehead, sparkling eyes, in his glance
an indefinable tenderness and power, which
qualities indeed emanate from his entire person-
ality, Rene Menard dwells at the top of a lofty
house in the Place du Pantheon. Beneath his
windows there range themselves in a charming
urban landscape the noble fane of the Temple, the
square of L’Ecole de Droit, the Rue Soufflot, the
library of Sainte Genevieve, and that peaceful
quarter of the town on the threshold of which St.
Etienne du Mont lifts its stately front.
That portion of the apartments which is open to
visitors comprises three rooms, usually thrown into
one: a small drawing-room, large studio, and a
little dining-room. A portrait of Mme. Menard
and some sketches of the artist’s children give an
air of domesticity to an interior of an otherwise
literary and archaeological appearance. Works of
art, articles of vertu, and furniture all harmonise
together and with the paintings by M. Menard
which hang upon the walls. These pictures give
an impression of repose, of grandeur, of stillness,
and almost always of poetry and ancient mythology.
Some are inspired by a Grecian portico and the
landscapes which may be surveyed from the
summit of the Acropolis at Corinth, others again
bring to mind the Temple of Segestus, the ruins of
Agrigentum, or the Temple of Neptune at Paestum.
Others again depict for us a beautiful nude girl on
the divine shores of Corfu, of whom one cannot say
whether she be goddess or mortal. Here is a Juge-
ment de Paris ; here, in short, are pictures large and
small, with no other subject than the sky, the
clouds, and the fields of France, but from each of
which emanates the sweetness, the serenity, and the
poesy of the choicest gems of literature.
When I endeavour to analyse the reason why I
have felt for so long this affection for M. Menard’s
pictures, the belief grows upon me that it is because
BY RBN£ MENARD
“ LE TROUPEAU ”
XLYI. No. 193.—April, 1909
17 5