Harold Harvey - Orange Sellers, Newlyn [c.1907]

Harold Harvey - Orange Sellers, Newlyn [c.1907], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Harold Harvey’s seemingly innocent depiction of girls selling oranges to a young fisherman carries a hidden message that reveals important social concerns in Edwardian Britain. He first tackled the subject in 1905 in The Orange Seller (Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro), a picture of a girl seated in a dark interior with a basket of oranges. This visual idea was taken out into the open air and in the present example, placed in the busy ambience of Newlyn Harbour. Here, his viewpoint took in the waterfront, a section of the North Pier and the gentle slope of Paul Hill running down to Wherry Town, which is off to the right. Along with neighbouring Mousehole, this was a favourite setting between 1905 and 1908. However the encounter he depicts contains a more complex message. Oranges remained an exotic fruit in rural areas in the Edwardian period

[Oil on canvas, 30.5 x 40.6 cm]

Alexandre Cabanel - Echo [1874]

Alexandre Cabanel - Echo [1874], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

In Greek mythology Echo is the beautiful nymph who falls in love with Narcissus, a handsome youth who loves only his own reflection. Because of her endless chatter, Hera condemns Echo to a life of silence except for repeating what others say to her. Still in love with Narcissus, Echo retreats to a remote grotto and pines away until only her voice is left.

[Oil on canvas, 97.8 x 66.7 cm]

Louis Le Nain - Peasant Interior

Louis Le Nain - Peasant Interior, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The shift of taste in the early seventeenth century, which discovered an interest in subjects drawn from common life, had different results in every place. The work of Louis Le Nain and his family, who were painters from Laon in Normandy, was essentially unparalleled anywhere. Louis Le Nain most often painted family life around meagerly furnished tables, peasant life without plenty, occasionally outdoors, on the way back from the fields. He made the subject solemnly impressive. The grave presences seen around their low table in these pictures are as restrained as the abstemious existence presented.

Auguste Renoir - The Daughters of Catulle Mendès, Huguette, Claudine, and Helyonne [1888]

Auguste Renoir - The Daughters of Catulle Mendès, Huguette, Claudine, and Helyonne [1888], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Hoping to recapture the success he had achieved with Madame Georges Charpentier and Her Children at the Salon of 1879, Renoir asked his friend Catulle Mendès for permission to paint his three daughters. Mendès was a well-known writer and publisher of Symbolist poetry; his companion, Augusta Holmès, a virtuoso pianist and composer, was the mother of these girls. 

Renoir sent the portrait to a group exhibition in 1888 that was a critical disaster; the painting was ignored again at the 1890 Salon. It has since emerged, however, as one of Renoir's most impressive works, realized in his new, aggressive coloristic style. In the fluid brushwork and treatment of theme, the portrait pays homage to Fragonard and other eighteenth-century genre painters.

[Oil on canvas, 161.9 x 129.9 cm]

Richard Parkes Bonnington - La Ferte [c.1825]

Richard Parkes Bonnington - La Ferte [c.1825], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The site of this fresh and immediate sketch has been cautiously identified as that of La Ferté in the estuary of La Somme, on the Picardy coast. The north coast of France was frequently travelled by Bonington, and provided him with a wealth of subjects for his coast scenes. La Ferté and nearby St.Valèry-sur-Somme were among his favourite haunts and those of his painting companions, Paul Huet and Thomas Shotter Boys.

This work is a study made on the spot. The whole is quickly and fluidly painted, with the stretches of sand, sea and sky painted with broad horizontal sweeps of the brush. On the horizon vertical sweeps indicate rain showers. Certain details, such as the boat on the left and the small boat to the right in the distance are painted wet-in-wet, but others, such as the boat on the right and the figure of the woman were likely to have been added in the studio.

Bonington (1802 – 1828) was one of the most important artists of the early nineteenth century, vital to the understanding of French and British art of the Romantic period. His range included history and subject paintings, and landscapes, highly-finished works and sketches, all imbued with a brilliance and sureness of touch which was greatly admired both during and after his lifetime. He died tragically young from consumption at the age of 26.

[Oil on fibre board, 16.7 x 27.9 cm]

Jacob Maris - Three Windmills [1880]

Jacob Maris - Three Windmills [1880], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This painting was etched by Philippe Zilcken sometime before 1890. The subject and composition were a favourite of the artist, who was not seeking to depict particular sites. The main windmill has detail picked out in light browns, but the two further ones are quickly sketched in and appear as silhouettes. The thickly painted sky was done last, and brought round the buildings.

[Oil on canvas, 33.7 x 41.3 cm]

Gallery News

The gallery will be closing tomorrow for a few weeks while I am away on holiday in the United States of America. Allowing for sufficient jet-lag recovery, the next posting will be on Thursday July 12th. May I take this opportunity to thank all the visitors to the Gallery for their continued support.

Kind wishes

Gandalf