DOI issue:
No. 269 (August 1915)
DOI article:Thomson, Croal: The Paris Salon of fifty years ago, [2]
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21213#0178
The Paris Salon of Fifty Years Ago
the Barbizon men were coming into their own, and
these drawings reveal how strong and how healthy
this influence was. Castan also made many illus-
trations for newspapers.
We now reach what is perhaps the finest drawing
of all those we have reproduced in these articles,
and one of the most remarkable productions in line
of the Barbizon School. This is the Plaine de
Barbizon, by Theodore Rousseau (1812-1867).
It is a sketch made from some rising ground near
Fontainebleau, and the artist himself describes the
scene in a letter accompanying the drawing.
“ From the window of my studio in the country
I observe upon a small elevation of the ground the
corner of a little wood of oaks. It is poor, stunted
and rocky, but raised from its humility by three
majestic poplars ” ; and in a lofty strain he proceeds
to express his appreciation of the beauties of the
locality, concluding by describing how the peasant
suddenly appeared from amongst the trees and
added a further note of dignity to the scene.
The splendid majesty of this apparently simple
drawing is something to be pondered over. The
Rembrandtesque selection of the vital lines in the
picture, the beauty of the composition, and the
suggestion of the immensity of nature in com-
parison with humanity, as shown by the great poplar
trees overshadowing the little figure of the home-
going peasant—all these together render this a
drawing of the very highest order.
We now come to the works of three artists
eminent in their way fifty years ago, but only one
of whom is now remembered. Gustave Morin
(1809-1886) was a native of Rouen and began to
exhibit at the Salon in 1833. In 1858 he returned
to Rouen as Director of the Academy of Painting,
and in 1865, the year he made the drawing, he
became Conservateur of the Museum there. It
was probably the Great Exhibition of 1862 that
brought Morin to London, and he seems to have
grasped quickly some of the peculiarities of the
streets at that time. To the Salon of 1866 he sent
a water-colour, At the Corner of London Bridge, and
in our Croquis dans les Rues he displays his know-
ledge of our metropolis. Therein we find an omnibus
with its “ knifeboard” and box seats, a hansom cab
cutting along, a big costermonger with a small
donkey, and in the background the Lord Mayor’s
coach, with the gamins of the streets, the butcher-
“ UN crepuscule”
158
BY GUSTAVE CASTAN
the Barbizon men were coming into their own, and
these drawings reveal how strong and how healthy
this influence was. Castan also made many illus-
trations for newspapers.
We now reach what is perhaps the finest drawing
of all those we have reproduced in these articles,
and one of the most remarkable productions in line
of the Barbizon School. This is the Plaine de
Barbizon, by Theodore Rousseau (1812-1867).
It is a sketch made from some rising ground near
Fontainebleau, and the artist himself describes the
scene in a letter accompanying the drawing.
“ From the window of my studio in the country
I observe upon a small elevation of the ground the
corner of a little wood of oaks. It is poor, stunted
and rocky, but raised from its humility by three
majestic poplars ” ; and in a lofty strain he proceeds
to express his appreciation of the beauties of the
locality, concluding by describing how the peasant
suddenly appeared from amongst the trees and
added a further note of dignity to the scene.
The splendid majesty of this apparently simple
drawing is something to be pondered over. The
Rembrandtesque selection of the vital lines in the
picture, the beauty of the composition, and the
suggestion of the immensity of nature in com-
parison with humanity, as shown by the great poplar
trees overshadowing the little figure of the home-
going peasant—all these together render this a
drawing of the very highest order.
We now come to the works of three artists
eminent in their way fifty years ago, but only one
of whom is now remembered. Gustave Morin
(1809-1886) was a native of Rouen and began to
exhibit at the Salon in 1833. In 1858 he returned
to Rouen as Director of the Academy of Painting,
and in 1865, the year he made the drawing, he
became Conservateur of the Museum there. It
was probably the Great Exhibition of 1862 that
brought Morin to London, and he seems to have
grasped quickly some of the peculiarities of the
streets at that time. To the Salon of 1866 he sent
a water-colour, At the Corner of London Bridge, and
in our Croquis dans les Rues he displays his know-
ledge of our metropolis. Therein we find an omnibus
with its “ knifeboard” and box seats, a hansom cab
cutting along, a big costermonger with a small
donkey, and in the background the Lord Mayor’s
coach, with the gamins of the streets, the butcher-
“ UN crepuscule”
158
BY GUSTAVE CASTAN