DOI Heft:
No. 285 (December 1916)
DOI Artikel:Lees, George Frederic William: Henri Harpignies: in Memoriam
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.24575#0146
Henri Harpignies: In Memoriam
La Place tfHerisson and Le petit village de admirable pleiad of landscape painters who cast
Chasteloy, water-colours of 1876 and 1877; Le so much splendour on the French School. But
Vieux Noyer and Les Dindons de Mine. Heraut, Harpignies was not only a great painter and the
two souvenirs of the Allier of 1878 and 1879. most devoted of masters to his pupils: he was
As a water-colour artist, Harpignies was without also a faithful friend whose charm he who writes
a rival in France. His work in this branch of art these lines was able to appreciate for nearly sixty
cannot be too highly praised, for whilst attaining years. Possessing an opinionated character, like
pre-eminence he proved himself to be a veritable his vigorous art, he was fully conscious of his own
pioneer. Having worked incessantly at water- value, and sometimes was not sparing in his
colours for fourteen years, he at last decided to criticism of those who did not share his views;
exhibit them for the first time at the 1864 Salon, but he often tempered his severity by the gentle-
and although only a chosen few may have imme- ness of his language and the infinite grace of the
diately recognised how beautifully fresh and limpid intonation of his voice."'
these little works were—how different from the No more fitting tribute than this, pronounced
weak and finicking productions of the water- by the Director of the Ecole Nationale Superieure
colourists of the Second Empire—it was not long des Beaux-Arts at the graveside of the "Old Oak,"
before others were taking their inspiration from at Saint Prive, and in the presence of a large
him. As one of the forerunners,
if not the founder, of the modern
school of water-colour painting
in France, his work was much
appreciated abroad, especially in
England and the United States.
It was, I imagine, his water-
colours rather than his oil paint-
ings which made the work of
Henri Harpignies known among
English art lovers. By some
among us, indeed, his vigorous art
was never recognised at all, as
shown by a curious incident which
arose nearly twenty years ago,
when the great artist, for a magni-
ficent picture of The Banks of the
Rhone, received the highest Salon
award — the medaille d'honneur.
The year after, Harpignies ventured
to send this superb work, in which
the earth, the water and the trees
formed one of the most enchant-
ing poems of Nature imaginable,
to the Royal Academy. Judge
of his astonishment when he learnt
that the jury had rejected it!
" He worked until his very last
day," said M. Leon Bonnat, the
painter of one of the best like-
nesses of Harpignies, "and his
later works, ever bearing the
impress of his strong originality,
are in no way inferior to those of
his youth and prime. With him
there disappears one of the most "spring" water-colour by hexri harpignies
glorious representatives of that (Zouoalof Collection, Petit-Palais, Paris)
136
La Place tfHerisson and Le petit village de admirable pleiad of landscape painters who cast
Chasteloy, water-colours of 1876 and 1877; Le so much splendour on the French School. But
Vieux Noyer and Les Dindons de Mine. Heraut, Harpignies was not only a great painter and the
two souvenirs of the Allier of 1878 and 1879. most devoted of masters to his pupils: he was
As a water-colour artist, Harpignies was without also a faithful friend whose charm he who writes
a rival in France. His work in this branch of art these lines was able to appreciate for nearly sixty
cannot be too highly praised, for whilst attaining years. Possessing an opinionated character, like
pre-eminence he proved himself to be a veritable his vigorous art, he was fully conscious of his own
pioneer. Having worked incessantly at water- value, and sometimes was not sparing in his
colours for fourteen years, he at last decided to criticism of those who did not share his views;
exhibit them for the first time at the 1864 Salon, but he often tempered his severity by the gentle-
and although only a chosen few may have imme- ness of his language and the infinite grace of the
diately recognised how beautifully fresh and limpid intonation of his voice."'
these little works were—how different from the No more fitting tribute than this, pronounced
weak and finicking productions of the water- by the Director of the Ecole Nationale Superieure
colourists of the Second Empire—it was not long des Beaux-Arts at the graveside of the "Old Oak,"
before others were taking their inspiration from at Saint Prive, and in the presence of a large
him. As one of the forerunners,
if not the founder, of the modern
school of water-colour painting
in France, his work was much
appreciated abroad, especially in
England and the United States.
It was, I imagine, his water-
colours rather than his oil paint-
ings which made the work of
Henri Harpignies known among
English art lovers. By some
among us, indeed, his vigorous art
was never recognised at all, as
shown by a curious incident which
arose nearly twenty years ago,
when the great artist, for a magni-
ficent picture of The Banks of the
Rhone, received the highest Salon
award — the medaille d'honneur.
The year after, Harpignies ventured
to send this superb work, in which
the earth, the water and the trees
formed one of the most enchant-
ing poems of Nature imaginable,
to the Royal Academy. Judge
of his astonishment when he learnt
that the jury had rejected it!
" He worked until his very last
day," said M. Leon Bonnat, the
painter of one of the best like-
nesses of Harpignies, "and his
later works, ever bearing the
impress of his strong originality,
are in no way inferior to those of
his youth and prime. With him
there disappears one of the most "spring" water-colour by hexri harpignies
glorious representatives of that (Zouoalof Collection, Petit-Palais, Paris)
136