Cherries: a group of young women in a landscape thumbnail 1
Not currently on display at the V&A

Cherries: a group of young women in a landscape

Oil Painting
1840s-1850s (painted)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Barthélemy Menn (1815-1893) was born in Geneva where he was taught by W. A. Töpffer and subsequently by Léonard Lugardon (1801-1884), a former pupil of Ingres and jean-Antoine Gros. Menn later studied with Ingres and followed him in Rome. He mostly produced portraits and landscapes close to the school of Barbizon although he made his debut with historical subjects. Menn taught two generations of painters including Maurice Dudevant, Georges Sand's son, and Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918).

This painting is a fine example of Menn's transitional manner when he took his distance with history painting under the influence of Ingres and was attracted by a freer approach of nature developed by Corot and the school of Barbizon. It shows a group of women resting in a field. This type of idyllic outdoors scenes was mainly produced by Menn during the 1840s and 1850s.


Object details

Category
Object type
TitleCherries: a group of young women in a landscape
Materials and techniques
Oil on paper laid on cardboard
Brief description
Oil painting, 'Cherries: a Group of Young Women in a Landscape', Barthélémy Menn, Swiss school, 1840s-1850s
Physical description
Women resting in a field under a tree, one is playing the lute, another standing is offering cherries to two women setaed on the grass, hilly landscape in the background.
Dimensions
  • Estimate painting height: 20.3cm
  • Estimate painting width: 29.2cm
  • Frame height: 345mm
  • Frame width: 430mm
  • Frame depth: 65mm (Note: measured by conservation)
Painting dimensions taken from C.M. Kauffmann, Catalogue of Foreign Paintings, II. 1800-1900, London, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1973. Frame dimensions taken by conservation.
Style
Marks and inscriptions
'B Menn' (Signed by the artist, lower left)
Credit line
Bequeathed by Rev. Chauncey Hare Townshend
Object history
Rev. Chauncey Hare Townshend, listed in the 1868 post-mortem register of the contents of his villa in Lausanne (V&A R/F MA/1/T1181) as 'Oil on millboard. Cherries. By B. Menn. In frame. Signed. Swiss. Present century'; bequeathed by Rev. Chauncey Hare Townshend, 1868.

Historical significance: The present painting is one of a group of 6 works by Menn, originally owned by the Rev. Townshend who gathered a rich collection of 19th-century landscape paintings. It is possible that Townshend acquired directly the painting from the artist as he had the habit of spending the winter in Lausanne, not far from Geneva.
Subjects depicted
Summary
Barthélemy Menn (1815-1893) was born in Geneva where he was taught by W. A. Töpffer and subsequently by Léonard Lugardon (1801-1884), a former pupil of Ingres and jean-Antoine Gros. Menn later studied with Ingres and followed him in Rome. He mostly produced portraits and landscapes close to the school of Barbizon although he made his debut with historical subjects. Menn taught two generations of painters including Maurice Dudevant, Georges Sand's son, and Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918).

This painting is a fine example of Menn's transitional manner when he took his distance with history painting under the influence of Ingres and was attracted by a freer approach of nature developed by Corot and the school of Barbizon. It shows a group of women resting in a field. This type of idyllic outdoors scenes was mainly produced by Menn during the 1840s and 1850s.
Bibliographic reference
Kauffmann, C.M. Catalogue of Foreign Paintings, II. 1800-1900 , London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1973, pp. 70-71, cat. no. 155.
Collection
Accession number
1599-1869

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Record createdApril 18, 2007
Record URL
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