32 - Antoine-Jean, Baron GROS (Paris 1771 – Meudon 1835)

Antoine-Jean, Baron GROS (Paris 1771 – Meudon 1835) Hilly Landscape Paper mounted on canvas. Previous restorations. On the back, an old handwritten label reading “Gros” and two others bearing the number 64. 30 x 35 cm Provenance Antoine César Becquerel; the Coutan Hauguet collection; then passed down through the family. This painting is a unique work, the only documented landscape by Antoine-Jean Gros that has survived to the present day. It comes from a close associate, Antoine César Becquerel (1788–1878), famous for his friendship and close ties with Girodet. Baron Gros painted Becquerel’s portrait (auction of June 16, 2020). In his postmortem inventory dated January 30, 1878, drawn up by notary Émile Sorbet, our painting is listed under no. 41, valued at 20 francs. Other landscapes by Gros, now lost, are documented in 19th-century artists’ studio sales and auctions, and other drawings are preserved, for example, in the Louvre’s sketchbooks. These are independent works and not preparatory studies for the background of his outdoor portraits and battle scenes. In the 1810s and 1820s, when the Prize for Historical Landscape had just been established at the École nationale des Beaux-Arts and some of Baron Gros’s students were entering it, our artist presents his own vision of the theme here. With its crystalline light that brings out the various shades of green, this valley, viewed from above, exudes a sense of great freshness. The few white and bluish strokes of the river, as well as the tree in backlight, give structure to the composition.