French School (XX) - Rue du Gros-Horloge, Rouen

lot/french school xx rue du gros horloge rouen 6NMtR8M 632951683 / Price history

lot/french school xx rue du gros horloge rouen 6NMtR8M 632951683

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lot/french school xx rue du gros horloge rouen 6NMtR8M 632951683

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French School (XX) - Rue du Gros-Horloge, Rouen

Hello, I am offering a perfect-condition oil on canvas depicting the Rue du Gros-Horloge in the city of Rouen, with its famous XVth-century fountain, an emblematic site classified as a historic monument. The style is part of a post-impressionist current of so-called “architectural” painting. This work belongs to the École de Rouen, which groups together a number of painters very active between 1880 and 1950, fascinated by Rouen Cathedral, the medieval streets, and more generally the light of Normandy. The shades of gray, nacre, and the soft shadows of this work recall the work of artists such as Albert Lebourg, Robert Antoine Minchon, Louis-Jacques Vignon, and their followers. This work is executed with fluid brushstrokes using a subtly almost monochrome palette in places. The result is an aged patina that offers a low-angle, contrapost perspective of Rouen’s most famous monument. The artist chose a dense composition that gathers several architectural elements: on the left, the monumental Renaissance-era arch spanning the street topped by its famous astronomical dial. The blue and gold nuances of the original dial are reinterpreted here in muted tones of blue-gray and nacre. In the center of the painting sits a wooden-framed loggia adjacent to the clock, meticulously detailed with its small “cul-de-bouteille” stained-glass windows. Each pane is treated with a juxtaposition of small white and gray geometric touches to simulate the reflection of light on the leaded glass. To the right, backed against the base of the Gothic belfry, stands the famous monumental fountain built between 1456 and 1459 and later rebuilt in 1733, depicting the myth of Alphée and Arethusa. The Gros-Horloge has always had only a single hand due to its medieval design. Its mechanism dates from 1389, and at that time life was ruled by hours, not minutes. In this painting, the absence of the single hand on this dial is a deliberate choice by the painter not to freeze the scene at a precise hour, thereby giving it a timeless dimension. The artist uses a conical perspective with three vanishing points for a downwards-looking effect to emphasize the monumental nature of the buildings in a confined space: the view down the Gros-Horloge street, the arch of the Gros-Horloge creating a powerful stabilizing curve, and finally the central loggia adjoining the fountain that serves as a geometric pivot. These three lines of perspective connect two eras: Classicism with the eighteenth-century rebuilt fountain, and the Renaissance with the astronomical dial. These three vanishing lines converge toward the center of the street, inviting the viewer to continue their walk through the medieval town. The technique is achieved with a brush, either wiped or rubbed, to imitate the porous grain of Caen limestone that composes Rouen’s monuments. The color range is deliberately restrained, almost muted, relying on harmonies of Payne’s gray, natural earth dark, yellow ochre, and titanium/zinc white for light highlights on the stone. The astronomical dial is rendered with a deep cerulean blue for the central disk, contrasting with the beige-gold outer circle. The loggia is painted with touches of brown and red ochre on the wooden structures. The lighting is that of a Norman overcast sky. It does not produce sharp shadows on the ground but rather a diffuse light that clings to the reliefs of the fountain’s sculptures and to the mouldings of the arch. This soft, almost misty diffusion evokes the Norman climate and gives this famous monument a timeless, poetic aspect, far from a simple technical or architectural drawing. The earthy appearance of the old paving stones, as well as the total absence of modern elements (electrical wires, neon signs, automobiles), indicate that the work presents a timeless, romantic vision of old Rouen, typical of pictorial representations from 1910–1930. Frame dimensions: 48 cm x 40 cm Artwork dimensions: 46 cm x 38 cm This old canvas is in perfect condition. Visible stretchers on all four sides have been added to re-stretch the canvas on its original frame. The canvas has recently been cleaned by a professional, then a satin UV-protective varnish from Winsor & Newton was applied after fixing with paraloid B72. The entire piece is ready to hang.

Estimate:£507.69

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