1865
Huile sur toile
32,5 x 24 cm - 12 13/16 x 9 5/8 in.
Montpellier, Musée Fabre, France - Inv. 2010.10.1
Dernière mise à jour : 2023-12-22 18:36:47
Référence : MSb-16
Collection Vidal, Montpellier - Vente Paris, Drouot-Montaigne, 14 juin 1989, n° 18 - Vente Paris-Drouot, 16 juin 2010, n° 38 - Musée Fabre, Montpellier, 2010.
Atlanta, High Museum of Art, 1999, n° 13, repr. p. 45 - Paris, musée Mamottan Monet, 2003-2004, Cat. 6, repr. p. 23 - Montpellier, Paris, Washington, 2016-2017, cat. 25, repr. p. 230 et p. 29 [Les références sont du catalogue en français].
Gazette de l’hôtel Drouot, n° 20 du 19 mai 1989 et n° 21 du 26 mai 1989 - Daulte, Frédéric Bazille : Catalogue raisonné de l'œuvre peint, 1992, p. 20 (repr. coul.) et n° 13, p. 158 (repr.) [Réédition de 1952 avec photos en couleur] - Bajou, Frédéric Bazille, 1993, p. 37 (repr.) - Parinaud, Barbizon. Les origines de l'impressionnisme, 1994, p. 81 (repr.) - Schulman, Frédéric Bazille : Catalogue raisonné, 1995, n° 16, repr. p. 125 - Pitman, Bazille : Purity, Pose and Painting in the 1860s, 1998, p. 251 note 37 - Champa, Catalogue exp. High Museum, Atlanta, 1999, repr. p. 45, pp. 82-83 - Pitman, Catalogue exp. High Museum, Atlanta, 1999, repr. p. 45, pp.19-65 - Gazette de l'hôtel Drouot, 25 juin 2010, repr. p. 50 - Hilaire, Catalogue exp. musée Fabre, 2014, 20 ans d'acquisitions, n° 169, p. 103 - Hilaire, Jones, Perrin, Catalogue exp. Montpellier, Paris, Washington, 2016-2017, cat. 25, repr. p. 230 [Les références sont du catalogue en français] - Schulman, Frédéric Bazille : Catalogue raisonné numérique, 2022, n° 16.
As the Forest of Fontainebleau and the Landscape at Chailly which are completed paintings, this Village Street, Chailly should be classified as one of the paintings Bazille made at Chailly during his stay in 1865.
The slightly uphill village street is lined with houses such as are found in the Fontainebleau area. Two children wearing large hats walk down the narrowing street. The houses are sketchily painted, much like the Courtyard of the Auberge du Cheval blanc at Chailly near Barbizon. Despite this, the perspective is perfectly rendered. Hence, as Jones [Catalogue exhibition 2016-2017, p. 230] essentially says, the contribution of the architectural elements is obvious. As for the colors, they are delicate, ranging from off-white to ochre to pinks and grays. The tones are light and translucent, so much so that, at times, one can see the fabric of the canvas. Study or not - which ultimately matters little - this Village Street, Chailly sparkles in Bazille's work, especially with the result of the cleaning done at the 2016-2017 exhibition.
On the back, a label indicates that the painting was given by Gaston Bazille, the artist's father, to an unknown recipient.
The painting appears on the wall above the piano on the right in the Young Woman Playing the Piano, which reinforces our certainty about the authenticity of each of the two works. This also allows us to affirm that the Bazillian corpus is - and will never be - definitively closed.
