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| Title | A Boat under Construction in a Shipyard | |
| Collection | Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle | |
| Artist | Tabar, Francois Germain Leopold (French artist, 1818-1869) | |
| Date Earliest | probably about 1842 | |
| Date Latest | 1868 | |
| Signed | yes | |
| Description | Tabar was a pupil of Delaroche; he exhibited at the Salon from 1842, where he won a medal in 1867. The artist started as a history painter but then diversified into landscapes, producing views of Venice and Constantinople. He also made some still lifes. Here, the view depicts the realities of a shipyard. The vertical lines of the masts contrast with the bridge in the middle ground, which cuts the picture in two and thus creates a foreground on which the viewer can concentrate. The large hull of the ship contrasts with the small figures in the foreground, possibly emphasising the idea of the workers' worthlessness in an era of growing industrialisation. | |
| Current Accession Number | B.M.495 | |
| Former Accession Number | No. 689; No. 58m | |
| Inscription | front ll 'L.Tabar' | |
| Subject | marine; figure | |
| Measurements | 52 x 62.5 cm (estimate) | |
| Material | oil on canvas | |
| Acquisition Details | Bequeathed by the founders John and Joséphine Bowes 1885. | |
| Provenance | Hôtel Drouot sale, 25 January 1868, lot 78. | |
| Notes | This was listed as no. 689 in John Bowes' catalogue, under the title 'A Ship, by the side of a Building, in a Building yard, signed L. Tabar, nineteenth century'. It is also listed as no. 58m in the 1877 MSS List. The approximate dates correspond to the painter's first appearance at the Salon and the year the painting was bought. For more on Tabar, see Schurr, G. and Cabanne, P., Dictionnaire des Patits Maîtres de la peinture 1820-1920, Paris, 1996, p. 442. | |
| Rights Owner | The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, Co. Durham | |
| Author | Dr Maylis Hopewell-Curie | |