Johan Barthold Jongkind (Dutch, 1819-1891)
Paysage Nivernais
signed and dated 'Jongkind 1862' (lower left)
oil on canvas
33 x 56.5cm (13 x 22 1/4in).
Footnotes:
Provenance
Jules Cronier; sold, Gallery Georges Petit, 11/12 March 1908, no. 61.
With Kunsthandler Huinick & Schendel, Amsterdam, no. 1071.
With Arthur Tooth & Sons, London.
Sir Frederic and Lady Hamilton, UK (acquired from the above).
Thence by descent to the present owners.

Literature
V. Hefting, Jongkind: Sa vie son ouevre son époque, Paris, 1975, no. 240, illustrated p. 130.
A. Stein, S. Brame, F. Lorenceau and J. Sinizergues, Jongkind: Catalogue critique de l'ouevre: Peintures I, Paris, 2003, no. 277, illustrated p. 144.

One of ten children, Johan Jongkind was born in Lattrop, and from an early age showed real interest in drawing which preoccupied him at school; following the death of his father in 1836, his mother continued to support him in his desire to become an artist.

Jongkind enrolled at the Academie voor Beeldende Kunsten in the Hague in 1836 under the direction of Andreas Schelfhout, and in 1845 was introduced by Schelfhout to Eugène Isabey. The following year Jongkind left for Paris and settled in Place Pigalle, supported by an annual stipend from the Prince of Orange. By 1850 he was exhibiting at the Paris Salons, but he chose to show his work in the sections devoted to French artists, rather than acknowledge his Dutch heritage. His increasingly avant-garde style, characterised by short rapid brushstrokes (which was to be so influential on the Impressionists) was not popular with the critics, and led to the artist experiencing intense periods of self-doubt which led to alcoholism and financial insecurity. In 1855, following the death of his mother and the withdrawal of the stipend, Jongkind returned to Holland. However, he had not been forgotten by his friends in Paris and in 1860 a group of around 80 artists led by Camille Corot, and Charles-François Daubigny arranged a sale of their work to raise funds to enable him to return to France. Upon his return he settled in Montparnasse where he became friends with Joséphine Fesser-Borrhee. This was the beginning of a critical and lifelong relationship that provided the artist both moral and, probably, financial support, and gave him the confidence to pursue his work even in the light of criticism and rejection from the Salon.

In 1862, the year in which Paysage Nivernais was painted, Jongkind became a member of the Société des Aquafortistes. The importance of this society was not only that it promoted etching as a serious art form, but because it also was an early model of cooperation among independent artists whose work straddled the line between mainstream academic taste and experimental exploration. He also met Claude Monet while visiting Normandy. 'His painting' Monet recalled, 'was too new and too artistic in tone to be rightly appreciated in 1862. Also, no one knew less than he how to show one's qualities. He was a good man, very simple, speaking very bad French, and very shy...He asked to see my sketches, invited me to go work with him, explained to me the how and why of his manner and completed the teachings I had received from [Eugène] Boudin. From this moment on [Jongkind] was my true master, and it is to him that I owe the definitive education of my eye.'1

Two years later Jongkind was working again with Monet in and around Honfleur. Monet was impressed by his working method of making sketches en plein air to be used as notes for when back in the studio. Similarly, his habit of painting the same scene at different times of the day or in different weather conditions was to have a profound effect on Monet.

Still, Jongkind failed to find favour with the critics in Paris and he was rejected again from the Salon in 1873. He determined to leave the capital and by the 1880s, he was spending the summer months in the south of France where his landscapes, often in watercolour, proved more popular and sales increased. But this respite was short lived as by early 1891, fuelled by alcoholism and depression, his mental state had deteriorated. He was admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Saint-Egrève and died in February 1891.

Painted in Nivernais (a province in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in central France) in 1862, during the period considered the most important for the artist, and probably in the company of Joséphine Fesser-Borrhee, who with her husband had moved to the area many years earlier, the present lot is a wonderful example of the artist's work. A mother and child stand on a road in an open landscape, with a farmstead beyond where sheep graze. They are integral to the composition providing a narrative, but also a reference to man's relationship with - and dependence on - nature. Jongkind is able to capture the reality of the landscape without romanticizing it; the building and the hills in the background form a strong horizontal line only interrupted by the sparse trees which stand out against the sky and draw the viewer into the composition. Patches of blue sky can be seen beyond billowing white clouds which are beautifully modelled, and the texture of the heavy soil of the region is subtly rendered through a delicate build-up of colours and texture. From an important collection, and not seen on the market for many years, this engaging and enigmatic example of the artist's work exemplifies why Jongkind has remained a much sought-after and important artist.

1F. Thiébault-Sisson, 'Claude Monet, an Interview' Le Temps, Paris, November 27, 1900, p. 3.