The Resting Horseman; La Halte du Cavalier; Landscape with figures

Physical description

In a flat landscape with a low sky, a standing woman with a pot balanced on her head at left, a man seated with a dog and a horse on the right and in the centre two boys, one with hat, playing a pipe, with sheep behind.

Place of Origin

Paris, France (painted)

Date

1640s (painted)

Artist/maker

Le Nain, Louis, born 1593 - died 1648 (artist)

Materials and Techniques

oil on canvas

Dimensions

Height: 54.6 cm estimate, Width: 67.3 cm estimate, Height: 83 cm frame, Width: 95 cm frame, Weight: 19.5 kg with frame

Object history note

Possibly M. de V[ieux] V[iller], his sale Paris, 18 Feb. 1788, lot 88 (not 28); possibly Francillon, his sale, Paris, 12-16 May 1829; purchased by Constantine Alexander Ionides at Christie's, 27 May 1882 lot 92, for £162.15s. (155 guineas); listed at that valuation in his inventory (private collection); bequeathed by Constantine Alexander Ionides, 1900

Historical context note

Formerly attributed to a follower of the Le Nain (Kauffmann, 1973), the authenticity of this painting has been fully asserted on the occasion of technical examinations in 1993. Infra-red photographs have indeed revealed the figure of a small child on a chair under the paint layer, beneath the figure of the boy on the left. This child looks exactly the same as in Visit to the Grandmother, The Hermitage, St Petersburg, dated ca. 1645-1648. P. Rosenberg in his monograph (1993) groups these two paintings with a third one in the Louvre, Peasant Family in an Interior, under the name of Louis Le Nain, making thus the distinction with the other two Le Nain brothers, Antoine and Mathieu.
The V&A painting shares the same subject matter with the Louvre and the Hermitage works and shows a family of peasants, the father and the mother framing the two young boys in the centre, in a landscape. Their humble condition is defined by their outfits as well as the animals (sheep, horse and a dog) standing beside the paterfamilias. The thematic is typical of the output of the Le Nain, who specialised in genre paintings on a large scale in the 17th century.

Unlike their Netherlandish and Italian predecessors and contemporaries who specialised in small scale genre pictures representing village fairs and tavern scenes, the Le Nain chose to produce austere compositions in a much larger format that was previously favoured for history paintings. By doing so, they ennobled such subject matter and combined a realistic approach in the depiction of everyday details with a fine understanding of the different characters. Particularly notable are the monumentality of the figures and their calm and serene postures. The cool tonality of the painting enhances the monumental aspect through optical effects.

The representation of the individuals also allows reaching some universality through examples of different ages of man: the children, the young woman and the older man should be seen as symbols of the unity of different generations.

These paintings however remained far removed from any pastoral tradition in painting or literature and their meaning and purpose remain uncertain. They may be connected with the particular preoccupation of the pious Catholic movement in Paris and of the clergy of St Sulpice, the parish in which the three brothers lived, and where all were buried.

This painting is therefore a fine example of Le Nain’s output of the 1640s but also of the introduction of genre painting in France, of which they were mainly responsible.

Two copies of the present composition exist. One was part of the Picasso donation to the Louvre in 1973 while the other from the collection of the Colonel Clerc in 1925 was in 1952 in a private collection in Limoges.

'Genre painting' describes scenes of everyday life set in domestic interiors or in the countryside, especially those produced by 17th-century Dutch painters such as Gerard ter Borch, Jan Steen, and Pieter de Hooch. These subjects were not particularly popular with Italian and French artists before the 18th century. Even then, Italian genre painting is mainly restricted to works produced by Northern artists active in Bologna and the Veneto such as Giuseppe Maria Crespi (1665-1747), Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (1682-1754), Pietro Longhi (ca. 1701-1785) and Giacomo Ceruti (1698-1767). In this pre-Enlightment society, issues of social class, the legitimacy of power and the needs of common people were beginning to be discussed in Holland, England and France and the debates were slowly filtering down to Italy. Bolognese intellectual life was particularly active and Crespi, who was corresponding one of the most notable academics, Antonio Muratori (1672-1750), appears to have created a visual response to these debates. The works of the Bamboccianti, mostly Netherlandish painters specialising in low-life paintings, painted in Rome in the mid 17th century, may also have provided a source for Italian genre painters while the commedia dell’arte profoundly inspired Crespi and the development of this new Italian version of genre painting. From Bologna the genre spread to Venice thanks to Venetians artists such as Piazzetta and Longhi. They drew the attention of foreign collectors, most notably Joseph Smith the British Consul in Venice, who amassed an impressive collection of such artworks and of Venetian art in general and contributed to the growing taste for these in England. In France, the genre was mainly introduced in the second quarter of the 17th century by the Le Nain brothers, especially Antoine and Louis, whose works still pose problems of individual identification.

Descriptive line

Oil painting, 'La Halte du Cavalier', Louis Le Nain, Paris, 1640s.

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

C.M. Kauffmann,Catalogue of Foreign Paintings, I. Before 1800. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1973, pp. 169-70, cat. no. 208.
The following is the full text of the entry:

Louis LE NAIN (1593-1648)
French School
Born at Laon in 1593, Louis was the second of three brothers - the others were Antoine (b. 1588) and Mathieu (b. 1607) - who shared a studio in Paris from about 1630 and painted genre scenes with a realism unusual in French art of the period. All three became members of the Académie Royale in 1648, the year of the death of Louis and Antoine. Mathieu, who also painted religious subjects and aristocratic portraits, survived until 1677.
As their work became more decisively disentangled in the 1920S and '30s, Louis emerged as the greatest of the three, indeed, as one of the outstanding artists of the 17th century. In the 17th century he became known as Le Romain. Whether he actually went to Rome or not, the suggestion that he was influenced by Italian artists, such as Orazio Gentileschi, is convincing. Dutch and Spanish influence has also been detected in his work.

208
LANDSCAPE WITH FIGURES (LA HALTE DU CAVALIER)
Canvas
21 ½ x 26 ½ (54.6 x 67.3)
Ionides Bequest
CAI.17

This picture, or one of its replicas, was boldly attributed to Louis in a description of 1829 (Champfleury, 1862, p. 173), but subsequently the difficulties involved in separating the work of the three brothers led to its being catalogued simply as 'Le Nain' or as 'Antoine and Louis'. However, since Paul Jamot's articles of 1922-23 the ascription of this painting to Louis has not been questioned and, indeed, it is very close in style to his late masterpieces of the 1640s, such as La Charrette (Louvre, 1641). There are two versions, identical except for the facial expressions: (1) in the collection of Pablo Picasso (59 x 68 cm.); Sedelmeyer sale, Paris, 1907, i, no. 222, repr. p. 201; exhibited, Le Nain, Petit Palais, 1934, no. 14, repr.; (2) formerly Colonel Clerc, Paris (56 X 66 cm.); exhibited Paysage français de Poussin à Corot, 1925, no. 177; repr. Catalogue illustré, 1926, pl. xvii; sold Charpentier, Paris, 9 May 1952, lot 70, repr. Most of the individual figures recur frequently in Louis' paintings. The bearded man, for example, reappears in the Repas des Paysans and the Forge, both in the Louvre.
Part of the discussion concerning the antecedents of Louis Le Nain's style has been focused on the woman in this painting. George Isarlov (1934) saw in her the influence of Frans Hals; Paul Fierens (1933) that of Jan Sieberechts.

Condition. Pigment worn thin in several areas. The green of the landscape background can be recognized through the paint of the figures, showing that these were painted over the completed landscape.
Prov. This painting, or one of the other versions, was sold as Le Nain at Paris, 18 Feb. 1788, collection M. de V ... , and another was in the Cabinet Francillon in 1829, described as Louis Le Nain (Champfleury, 1862, pp. 159, 173). Bought by Constantine Alexander Ionides at Christie's on 27 May 1882, lot 92; bequeathed to the Museum in 1900.
Exh. Winter Exhibition, R. A., 1896, no. 88.
Lit. Champfleury (pseudonym for Jules Fleury), Les Frères Le Nain, Paris, 1862, pp. 159, 173; Monkhouse, 1884, repr. p. 213; A. Valabregue, Les Frères Le Nain, 1904, p. 170; F. Rutter in L'Art et Les Artistes, v, 1907, repr. p. 9; Sir. R. Witt, Illustrated catalogue of pictures by the brothers Le Nain, B. F. A. C., 1910, p. 13; P. Jamot in Gazette des Beaux-Arts, v, 1922, p. 232; vii, 1923, p. 159 f. (republished in book form; Les Le Nain, 1929, pp. 43 f., 48 f., repr. p. 64); Long, Cat. Ionides Coll., 1925, p. 36, pl. 21.; C. H. Collins Baker in Apollo, viii, 1928, repr. p. 69; R. H. Wilenski, French painting, repr. p. 49; W. Weisbach, Französische Malerei des XVII Jahrhunderts, 1932, p. 106 f., pl. 10; P. Fierens, Les Le Nain, 1933, p. 28 ff., pls, xxviii-xxx; G. Isarlo in Revue de l' Art, lxvi, 1934, p. 179, repr.; V. Lazareff, The Brothers Le Nain (in Russian), Leningrad-Moscow, pl. 24; George Isarlov in La Renaissance, xxi, 1938, pp. 8,42, no. 73; V. Bloch in Burl. Mag., lxxv, 1939, p. 53, pl. IB; P. Erlanger, Les peintres de la réalité, 1946, p. 97, repr. p. 102; Toledo, U.S.A., Exhibition, The Brothers Le Nain, 1947, repr.; V. Bloch in Burl. Mag., xc, 1948, p. 353; J. Leymairie, Le Nain, 1950, pl. 43 (repr. the Picasso version, caption wrongly places it in V.& A. Museum).
100 Great Paintings in The Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 1985, p. 50
The following is the full text of the entry:

"Louis Le Nain 1593-1648
French School
LANDSCAPE WITH FIGURES (LA HALTE DU CAVALIER)
Oil on canvas, 54.6 X 67.3 cm
CAI.208. Ionides Bequest.

Born at Laon in eastern France, Louis was the second of three brothers - the others were Antoine and Mathieu - who shared a studio in Paris from about 1630 and painted genre scenes with a realism unusual in French art of the period. The name of Louis became attached to the best of their paintings, but as there are no securely documented works and the signed ones only bear the name LE NAIN, the traditional differentiation between the styles of the three brothers was decisively rejected in the retrospective exhibition of their work held in Paris in 1979. Even so, the paintings ascribed to Louis form a distinct group and it is as well to retain the original names for the sake of convenience.

The figures are silhouetted against a low sky and a flat agricultural landscape. They were painted over the completed landscape, of which the green shows through their clothes. The rare beauty of the picture lies in the monumental quality of each individual figure. They do not appear to relate to each other, but they have statuesque proportions and are imbued with human dignity. In this respect Le Nain's peasantry differ from those of his Netherlandish contemporaries, which tend to be boorish and clownish, to be laughed at or to be looked down upon, rather than admired. The V&A painting is very similar to other exterior genre groups of like size and equally cool tonality, such as the Charrette in the Louvre. This is signed Le Nain 1641 and hence our picture may reasonably be dated to about the same period. Another version was owned by Picasso and passed with his collection to the Louvre.

The Le Nain scenes of rural life remain highly unusual in French painting until similar subjects were once again explored by 19th-century painters such as Millet. This has raised the question: for whom were they painted? It has been suggested that they found patrons among the growing section of the urban middle class which invested in land in the 17th century at a time when the French peasantry was economically hard pressed. There is evidence that much land was bought for the purpose of investment rather than residence, and it suggested that the cavalier, whose status is indicated by the ownership of a horse, represents the class of fermier, who managed the estate of an absentee landlord. Such speculation is hardly susceptible to proof, but there is no doubt that these rare scenes of French peasant life are social documents as well as monumental figure studies.

Michael Kauffmann."
Champfleury (pseudonym for Jules Fleury), Les Frères Le Nain, Paris: 1862, pp. 159, 173.
C. Monkhouse, 'The Constantine Ionides Collection' in Magazine of Art, vii, 1884, repr. p. 213.
A. Valabregue, Les Frères Le Nain, 1904, p. 170.
F. Rutter in L'Art et Les Artistes, v, 1907, repr. p. 9.
Sir. R. Witt, Illustrated catalogue of pictures by the brothers Le Nain, B. F. A. C., 1910, p. 13.
P. Jamot in Gazette des Beaux-Arts, v, 1922, p. 232; vii, 1923, p. 159 f. (republished in book form; Les Le Nain, 1929, pp. 43 f., 48 f., repr. p. 64).
B.S. Long, Catalogue of the Constantine Alexander Ionides collection. Vol. 1, Paintings in oil, tempera and water-colour, together with certain of the drawings, London, 1925, p. 36, pl. 21.
C. H. Collins Baker in Apollo, viii, 1928, repr. p. 69.
R. H. Wilenski, French painting, London, 1931, repr. p. 49.
W. Weisbach, Französische Malerei des XVII Jahrhunderts, 1932, p. 106 f., pl. 10.
P. Fierens, Les Le Nain, 1933, p. 28 ff., pls, xxviii-xxx.
G. Isarlo in Revue de l' Art, lxvi, 1934, p. 179, repr.
V. Lazareff, The Brothers Le Nain, Leningrad-Moscow, pl. 24.
In Russian
G. Isarlov in La Renaissance, xxi, 1938, pp. 8,42, no. 73.
V. Bloch in The Burlington Magagazine, lxxv, 1939, p. 53, pl. 18.
P. Erlanger, Les peintres de la réalité, 1946, p. 97, repr. p. 102.
The Brothers Le Nain, exh. cat., Toledo: 1947, repr.
V. Bloch in The Burlington Magazine, xc, 1948, p. 353.
J. Leymairie, Le Nain, 1950, pl. 43.
Repr. the Picasso version, caption wrongly places it in V.& A. Museum.
A. Burnstock, N. MacGregor, L. Scalisi and C. Sitwell, 'Three Le Nain paintings re-examined' in The Burlington Magazine, Oct. 1993, pp. 678-687, fig. 19.
P. Rosenberg, Tout l'œuvre peint des Le Nain Paris: 1993, cat. 41, pl. XXV.
Evans, M., The painted World. From Illumination to Abstraction, London, 2005, p. 59 and 63 illus.

Production Note

Formerly attributed to a follower of Le Nain

Materials

Oil paint; Canvas

Techniques

Oil painting

Subjects depicted

Landscape; Women; Horse; Dog; Boys; Sheep; Peasants; Shepherds; Genre scene; Reedpipes

Categories

Paintings

Collection code

PDP