01 Painting of the Canals of Venice by the artists of their time, with foot notes. #68

Jules Bastien-Lepage, (1848-1884)

Venise : la nuit sur la lagune

RMN-Grand Palais (musée Magnin) / René-Gabriel Ojéda

Here, the painter produces a highly synthetic painting with great economy of means. An analytical approach and feeling for detail bring it closer to Naturalism. Jeanne Magnin speaks of a “symphony in blue where the artist has not sought to create an effect, but has expressed a personal impression of his only trip to Venice, undertaken in 1880, when he was already suffering the early stages of the illness that would lead to his death. His heightened awareness conveys the emotion that the magical blue night sky on the blue sea aroused in him; the unbroken line of small islands is silhouetted between the sea and the sky, where the clouds are blown along by the sea breeze, obscuring and revealing the silver stars. The very modern choice to move towards monochrome, and the differentiation of planes that soften the central motif set further back, was probably a result of Bastien-Lepage’s visit to the Grosvenor Gallery where, in July 1881, the artist Whistler was exhibiting several works inspired by Venice. More la nuit sur la lagune

Jules Bastien-Lepage (1 November 1848 – 10 December 1884) was a French painter closely associated with the beginning of naturalism, an artistic style that emerged from the later phase of the Realist movement. He was born in the village of Damvillers, Meuse, and spent his childhood there. Bastien took an early liking to drawing, and his parents fostered his creativity by buying prints of paintings for him to copy.

Jules's first formal training was at Verdun, and prompted by a love of art he went to Paris in 1867, where he was admitted to the École des Beaux-arts, working under Cabanel. He was awarded first place for drawing but spent most of his time working alone, only occasionally appearing in class. During the Franco-Prussian war in 1870, Bastien fought and was wounded. After the war, he returned home to paint the villagers and recover from his wound. In 1873 he painted his grandfather in the garden, a work that would bring the artist his first success at the Paris Salon.

His initial success was confirmed in 1875 by the First Communion, a picture of a little girl minutely worked up. The last picture, Haymaking (Les Foins), now in the Musée d'Orsay, was widely praised by critics and the public alike. It secured his status as one of the first painters in the Naturalist school.

Between 1880 and 1883 he traveled in Italy. The artist, long ailing, had tried in vain to re-establish his health in Algiers. He died in Paris in 1884, when planning a new series of rural subjects. More Jules Bastien-Lepage

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