Core Record NIRP - VADS: the online resource for visual arts

Core Record
Title	Duck Shooting on the Banks of the River Allier
Original Translation	Lisi�re de bois sur les bords de l'Allier
Collection	Beecroft Art Gallery, Westcliff-on-Sea
Artist	Harpignies, Henri-Joseph (French painter and printmaker, 1819-1916)
Date	1861 (dated)
Signed	yes
Description	Although he was never part of the Barbizon School of artists who painted from nature in the Forest of Fontainebleau south of Paris, Henri Harpignies had close connections with them. The grey-green tonality, limpid light and careful draughtsmanship of this scene of duck-shooting on the bank of the river Allier in the Auvergne, which he exhibited at the 1861 Salon, exemplify his essentially conservative style, which changed little over a long career.
Current Accession Number	SOUAG:B97
Inscription	front ll 'H. Harpignies 1861'
Subject	landscape; figure
Measurements	181 x 146 cm (estimate)
Material	oil on canvas
Acquisition Details	Given by Walter G. Beecroft in memory of his sister Jenny Beecroft 1959.
Provenance	Anon. sale, Hotel Drouot, Paris, 2 September 1934, lot 60, as La chasse au canard, sur les bords de l'Allier; Thomas Grange; H. Terry-Engell Gallery, 8 Bury Street, London; purchased by Walter G. Beecroft, about 1959.
Principal Exhibitions	Paris, Salon, 1861, cat. no. 1449(?); French Landscapes, H. Terry-Engell Gallery, London, 1958; Millennium Exhibition, Beecroft Art Gallery, Southend-on-Sea, 2000, cat. no. 49.
Publications	Hunt, C., Highlights from the Beecroft Art Gallery, Southend-on-Sea, 2000, p. 29, pl. 49.
Notes	Harpignies exhibited two views of the banks of the Allier at the Salon of 1861, Lisi�re de bois sur les bords de l'Allier (no. 1449) and Un beau temps sur les bords de l'Allier (no. 1451). Although the dimensions are not included in the Salon catalogue, the Beecroft picture appears to correspond more closely to the title of no. 1449. The picture was reproduced in The Times, 28 February 1958, as ; the 27 February issue contains a brief notice of the inaugural exhibition at the H. Terry-Engell Gallery and mentions the presence of 'a few good paintings by Harpignies' in a selection dominated by Barbizon painters. A catalogue raisonn� of Harpignies's work is currently being prepared by Anne Burdin-Hellebranth, in which more light may be thrown on the provenance of the Beecroft picture for the period 1861-1934.
Rights Owner	Copyright Southend Borough Council
Author	Dr Rachel Sloan