“The Fort Saint Andre in Provence” by Leon Joubert, French Barbizon Painting

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LÉON JOUBERT
French, 1855-1928 (?)

"Le fort Saint-André à Villeneuve-lès-Avignon"

Oil on canvas
Signed lower left "L. Joubert", verso stenciled … Read more LÉON JOUBERT
French, 1855-1928 (?)

"Le fort Saint-André à Villeneuve-lès-Avignon"

Oil on canvas
Signed lower left "L. Joubert", verso stenciled on stretcher bars "305"

28 7/8" H x 39 3/8" H [canvas]
38 7/8" H x 49" W x 3 5/8" D [frame]

A sprawling view of the valley before the Fort Saint-André, Joubert brings to life a vibrant landscape with a spectrum of pigments moving from green to burnt orange throughout the grasses as the heat of the summer sun overhead warms the trees and casts long shadows along the hillside. In the distance the hazy purple of the mountains is visible behind the walled city on the hill just below the horizon.

A smaller sketch of the present scene was offered at Tajan in Paris in March of 2017 where it was simply titled En Provence, La Soir. Joubert exhibited an identical view of this scene in 1905 at Salon de la Société des Artistes Français, n°1021, that scene being a slightly larger canvas than the present version and held in the permanent collection of the Musée municipal d'Yvetot (acc. no. FNAC 1633).

Leon Joubert studied under Léon G. Pelouse (French, 1838-1891). He focused his work almost entirely on landscape painting with an emphasis on French villages and sprawling views of nature, but also with a large collection of work executed while abroad in the Middle East and throughout Europe. These travels resulted in many wonderful paintings of Bedouin encampments, street scenes from Algiers, He made his debut at the Sociéte des Artistes Français starting in 1883 and regularly exhibited his work there, receiving honorable mention in 1884, a third-class medal in 1889 and a bronze medal at the Exposition Universelle of both 1889 and 1900. He showed a particular interest in ancient architecture, painting views of the Acropolis, the Hadrianian aqueduct and views throughout Rome including the Colosseum from various vantage points. His work was always heavily influenced by the Barbizon painters and sought to reduce elements and distractions in his landscapes, burying them in the layers of color such that his views only slowly reveal themselves topographically with subtle hints that give way to greater depths of texture and color. His work is held in museum collections around the world, including Montpellier [Mouth of the Arguenon], Montreal [The Area around Rochefort; Tomb of Chateaubriand in St-Malo] and Saint-Brieuc [Autumn in Clairefontaine].

Literature:

E. Benezit Dictionary of Artists, Vol. VII, Gründ, 2006, p. 954-55
Musée municipal d'Yvetot, Le fort Saint-André à Villeneuve-lès-Avignon (1905), acc. no. FNAC 1633: Link

Condition Report:
Original stretcher in excellent condition; relined on linen with wax lining; professionally cleaned and conserved: varnish removed from the sky, surface clean of lower landscape only, traditional Dammar varnish applied, losses in sky, bushes and center right filled and inpainted where appropriate, final varnish applied; housed in a period giltwood frame with very minor losses/wear/chipping as expected.

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