Jean Ferdinand Monchablon (French, 1854-1904) The Rakers, 1886 Oil on canvas 35 x 52 inches (88.9 x 132.1 cm) Signed...

Jean Ferdinand Monchablon (French, 1854-1904) The Rakers, 1886 Oil on canvas 35 x 52 inches (88.9 x 132.1 cm) Signed and dated lower right: Jan Monchablon / 1886 Inscribed lower left: Oeuvre II PROVENANCE: Beaumont Art Galleries, Chicago, Illinois; Arthur A. Gallagher, Northbrook, Illinois, acquired from the above, 1939; Thence by descent to the present owner. This lot is accompanied by the 1939 invoice from Beaumont Art Galleries. 1886 was a significent year for the landscape painter Jean Ferdinand Monchablon, noted for his crisp and luminous scenes of his native Châtillon-sur-Saône in the Voges region of France. That year he decided to uproot his family from Paris, where he enjoyed consistent and regular success exhibiting in the annual Paris Salon since 1881, and return to his native region which was the wellspring of his creativity as a landscapist. He signed a ten-year lease on property at Châtillon, and there, dedicated himself to painting quiet rivers carving through open pastures and gently rolling hills with an intriguing blend of almost photographic realism and lucid impressionist light. The present work conveys a sense of exquisite stillness and reverie for which the artist was especially admired. The same year Monchablon took a trip to the Netherlands in order to study the work of 17th-century Golden Age masters. His landscapes, like those of the Dutch, are characterized by large skies, sweeping panoramic views of the countryside, and meticulous detail and craftsmanship. The artist was so enamored of the Dutch tradition following his trip that he began signing his works with the Dutch version of his name: Jan Monchablon. HID12701242017