Not on display

The Mist

Oil Painting
ca. 1845 (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. This painting which combines a landscape with a pleasant genre scene, shows however a high degree of finish which places the execution quite early in Menn's career around 1845. It shows a group of children gathered around a fire while the mist covered the landscape in the background. The interest in rural subject and atmospheric effects is typical of the Realist movement admired by Menn, which emerged in France in the 1840s.

Object details

Category
Object type
TitleThe Mist
Materials and techniques
Oil on canvas
Brief description
Oil painting, 'The Mist: Children Round a Fire', Barthélémy Menn, Swiss school, ca. 1845
Physical description
Three children gathered around a fire, one of them standing and carrying a bundle of wood, on the edge of a lake covered with mist and a horse grazing in the mid distance.
Dimensions
  • Estimate height: 42.5cm
  • Estimate width: 35.5cm
  • Gilt frame height: 610mm
  • Gilt frame width: 557mm
  • Gilt frame depth: 83mm
Dimensions taken from C.M. Kauffmann, Catalogue of Foreign Paintings, II. 1800-1900, London, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1973
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 canvas. The Mist. 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 where resided the artist.
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. This painting which combines a landscape with a pleasant genre scene, shows however a high degree of finish which places the execution quite early in Menn's career around 1845. It shows a group of children gathered around a fire while the mist covered the landscape in the background. The interest in rural subject and atmospheric effects is typical of the Realist movement admired by Menn, which emerged in France in the 1840s.
Bibliographic reference
Kauffmann, C.M., Catalogue of Foreign Paintings, II. 1800-1900 , London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1973, pp. 70-71, cat. no. 156.
Collection
Accession number
1600-1869

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Record createdApril 23, 2007
Record URL
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