A serene scene of Washerwomen by the River by French painter Jacques Henri DELPY.
Henri Jacques Delpy, born in Bois-le-Roi near the forest of Fontainebleau on June 28, 1877 and died in Paris on November 24th 1957 was a French painter, son and pupil of the painter Hippolyte Camille Delpy (1842-1910).
Most of his work was devoted to landscape painting and he specialized in water landscapes, especially variations of light on River Banks as is the case in our painting..
In his works we find the influence of his father and of Charles-François Daubigny (1817-1878): he paints undergrowth imbued with melancholy, ponds, the banks of the Oise, the Seine and landscapes always full of sensitivity and silence, on which weighs a heavy sky with a luminosity and bold colors. His work never lacking in poetic emotion.
He used a light, quick and transparent touch that reminds us of the impressionists.
The artist achieved a true synthesis between the impressionist movement and the Barbizon school, thus instilling this calm and serene atmosphere in particular, in the transparency of the water and especially the twilights, of which, just like his father, he was a specialist.
As seen here the skies and the water are magnified by his palette which uses a variety of unusual and original colors forming unprecedented associations but which have the effect of giving a picturesque character and tranquility to the whole canvas.
He participated in the Salon des Artistes Français, of which he was a member, as well as the Salon des Artistes Indépendants.
The painting certainly represents the banks of the Oise, calmer and wilder than the Seine.
Delpy represents a rural scene of kneeling washerwomen, cleaning clothes in the river while a man sails in a boat, at the time when the sun disappears behind the hills.
The scene is peaceful and relaxing, just like the atmosphere that emerges from the work.
The treatment of colors is typical of the artist’s style, warm tones, very nuanced, the clarity of the water, its transparency, the reflections of the trees and the sky on its surface, everything is treated with great sensitivity, without overly done effects, just a little more material to ignite the clouds above the mountain ridges.
An absolutely delicate work, treated with a touch of infinite softness.
Oil on panel, signed lower left, presented in a gilded wooden frame.
Unframed 7 1/2 X 13
Framed 15 X 20 3/4