Henry Jacques Delpy - Landscape From The 19th Century

Large French Barbizon riverscape "Sunset over a river" by Henry Jacques Delpy

This peaceful barbizon riverscape depicts a sunset illuminating the sky and covering the whole scenery in golden and pink hues. Two ladies "lavandières" can be seen washing to the right, on the board of the river. A but further to the left, we can see someone sitting in a small boat, perhaps a fisherman returning home for the evening.

Henry Jacques Delpy born in Bois-le-Roi on June 28, 1877 and died in Paris on November 24, 1957 is a French painter.
He is the son and pupil of the painter Hippolyte Camille Delpy (1842-1910). Henry Jacques Delpy is a landscape painter from the Barbizon school like his father, of whom he was a pupil. He embarked very early on in his artistic career.

He specializes in landscapes of water, in particular variations on the edges of rivers, as in the present painting. His works are marked by the influence of his father and Charles-François Daubigny (1817-1878): he paints undergrowth imbued with melancholy, ponds, the banks of the Oise, the Seine and landscapes always full of sensitivity and silence, on which weighs a heavy sky with luminosity and audacious colors, which to repeat itself does not lack any poetic emotion. He uses a light, quick and transparent touch reminiscent of the Impressionists. The artist achieves a real synthesis between this movement and the Barbizon school, thus infusing this calm and serene atmospheric atmosphere so particular, in particular, in the transparency of the water and especially of the twilights, of which, just like his father, he is a specialist. The skies and the water are magnified by his palette which uses a variety of unusual and original colors forming new associations but which have the effect of giving a picturesque character and tranquility to the whole of the canvas, as our painting is a beautiful example of.

He participated in the Salon of French artists, of which he was a member, as well as in the "Salon des indépendants".

Likely early 20th century

The oil on canvas measures ca. 65 by 46,5 cms and the total dimensions are ca. 84 by 64,5 cms