Lot Essay
Gustave Courbet was a rebel at the Salon. Hanging alongside mythological, religious and historical paintings by more traditional artists were Courbet's monumental canvases depicting scenes of daily life from his native Franche Comte. He was one of the first painters to elevate genre to an art form worthy of the Salon. He was criticized by the conservative reviewers and praised by the avant garde. His Salon entries between 1849 and 1851, After Dinner at Ornans(Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille),Stonebreakers(formerly Dresden),Peasants of Flagey(Musée des Beaux-Arts, Besançon) and his controversial, A Burial at Ornans(Musée d'Orsay, Paris), were to become his trademark.
Our painting may be compared to a work of the same subject by Courbet in the National Gallery in Prague. The Prague picture is smaller and horizontal, and includes cattle watering in the lower left side of the composition. In both paintings, the setting is Ornans, the site of Courbet's homeland which provided the subject for most of his most important landscapes, and which also served as the background for his monumental work, A Burial at Ornans. Previously considered autograph (see Literature), Paysage de Jura has been recently reevaluated by Jean Jacques Fernier, who has distinguished Courbet's own hand from that of his Workshop. At least five painters worked in Courbet's atelier in 1873 at Ornans, and later at this workshop in la Tour de Peliz. Two of these artists have been identified by Fernier: Cherubin Pata and Marcel Ordinaire. While Paysage de Jura is signed by Courbet, he feels that the shepherd and donkey are by Pata. Certainly Courbet had confidence in his gifted student, Cherubin Pata, so that he signed a work that he considered fine enough to pass as his own creation.
The painting has been authenticated by Jean Jacques Fernier, and will be included in the forthcoming supplement to his catalogue raisonné under the category; "Tableaux peints en Collaboration."
Our painting may be compared to a work of the same subject by Courbet in the National Gallery in Prague. The Prague picture is smaller and horizontal, and includes cattle watering in the lower left side of the composition. In both paintings, the setting is Ornans, the site of Courbet's homeland which provided the subject for most of his most important landscapes, and which also served as the background for his monumental work, A Burial at Ornans. Previously considered autograph (see Literature), Paysage de Jura has been recently reevaluated by Jean Jacques Fernier, who has distinguished Courbet's own hand from that of his Workshop. At least five painters worked in Courbet's atelier in 1873 at Ornans, and later at this workshop in la Tour de Peliz. Two of these artists have been identified by Fernier: Cherubin Pata and Marcel Ordinaire. While Paysage de Jura is signed by Courbet, he feels that the shepherd and donkey are by Pata. Certainly Courbet had confidence in his gifted student, Cherubin Pata, so that he signed a work that he considered fine enough to pass as his own creation.
The painting has been authenticated by Jean Jacques Fernier, and will be included in the forthcoming supplement to his catalogue raisonné under the category; "Tableaux peints en Collaboration."