In preparation for a tour of The Brooklyn Museum’s French Modern paintings this winter, the Co
In preparation for a tour of The Brooklyn Museum’s French Modern paintings this winter, the Conservation Department is taking a closer look at this Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894) landscape painting, Pommier en fleurs, ca. 1885. By the mid-19th century, plein-air painting was a popular practice among amateur and professional painters. These sketches would then be brought back to the artist’s studio and be used to create finished paintings. It was the Impressionists in the last half of the 19th century who took plein-air painting to the next level, believing these outdoor paintings could be more than mere sketches; they could be considered finished works in and of themselves, authentic “impressions” of light, color, and atmosphere. New technological advances during the industrial revolution allowed for the expansion of the artist’s palette with the addition of brilliant new pigments, dyes, and lakes. Other inventions, such as the collapsible tin paint tube introduced in the 1840s, greatly increased the life of oil paints and made them easily portable. By the time Caillebotte was working, the apothecaries of centuries past had evolved into specialized art suppliers known as colormen. For example, Winsor & Newton, one of the most popular art supply brands today, began as a colormen shop in the 1830s. Along with supplies such as paint, brushes, and portable easels, these 19th-century shops supplied pre-primed and pre-stretched canvases in standardized sizes. During examination of Caillebotte’s painting, a supplier’s stamp was discovered on the back of the canvas. Typical of such stamps, the shop name, address, and general services are listed. Artists often developed relationships with specific suppliers, and a history of their patronage can sometimes be traced by identifying the colormen’s retailer stamps on the backs of paintings. The DUBUS stamp has been found on many Caillebotte canvases (other examples here and here). Pommier en fleurs is also an example of one standard canvas size favored by the artist; at 73 cm x 60 cm, this canvas is the 19th-century standard French size F20. Posted by Sharra Grow -- source link
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