1865
Dessin au crayon sur papier
32 x 47 cm - 12 5/8 x 18 1/2 in.
Collection particulière
Dernière mise à jour : 2022-03-17 19:23:23
Référence : MSb-102
Famille de l'artiste, Montpellier - André Bazille, neveu de l'artiste - Collection particulière.
Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1978, n° 6, repr. p. 39 - Montpellier, Paris, Washington, 2016-2017, cat. 20, repr. p. 228 [Les références sont du catalogue en français].
Sarraute, 1948, appendice n° 24 - Daulte, Bazille et ses amis, 1952, n° 13, p. 195 [Thèse sous la direction de Gaston Poulain] - Schulman, Frédéric Bazille : Catalogue raisonné, 1995, n° 14 des dessins, repr. p. 246 - Hilaire, Jones, Perrin, Cat. exp. Montpellier, Paris, Washington, 2016-2017, cat. 20, repr. p. 228 [Les références sont du catalogue en français] - Schulman, Frédéric Bazille : Catalogue raisonné numérique, 2022, n° 102.
This study for the painting Landscape of Saint-Sauveur was probably executed in 1865. Bazille, dissatisfied with his painting, would have returned to Saint-Sauveur to take notes on the spot. This is Marandel's hypothesis, confirmed, it seems, by a letter from Gaston Bazille to his son, a letter dated December 28, 1865, in which it is proved that Bazille, having to attend the wedding of Maurice de Marveille with Mlle de Rouville, did return to his family in the Spring of 1865.
Sarraute also made the hypothesis that this drawing would have been used to prepare the panel painted in 1865 and intended for Pomier-Layrargues, Bazille's uncle.
Handwritten notes are carried out on the drawing giving technical indications of color and tone such as "tr, br, verm, blue, Tr Sien, brown laq, black, gray b, de cob, red yellow, pink bl, shade vigour, green gray, on the side of the sun, blue, lighter pink, are a little more vig. than the trees, at the birth in the details everything else a little lighter than the shade".
Here, the farm of Saint-Sauveur is seen from afar, with the Pic Saint Loup at the horizon. Unlike the painting, neither characters nor animals appear in this drawing. Preparatory or not, it has the same naivety as the painting. The buildings, of rather schoolish graphic design, contrast with the line of trees of a more relaxed and free technique. The tree, in the middle of the farmyard, stands out with difficulty against the mountainous horizon. With its wide open spaces, this study gives a better idea of the Languedoc landscape than the painting.
