35mm slide scanned by Ed Pollard-2009. Photo by Scott Wolf.

The Beach at Villerville at Sunset

Artist Charles-François Daubigny (French, 1817 - 1878)

CultureFrench

Date1873

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions30 1/4 x 55 1/2 in. (76.8 x 141 cm)
Overall, Frame: 44 3/8 × 70 5/8 × 5 3/4 in. (112.7 × 179.4 × 14.6 cm)

InscribedSigned and dated lower left.

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.635

Collections

European Art before 1945

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 215

DescriptionThis is an oil on canvas painting of a landscape. The horizon line very nearly divides the canvas into two halves, sky and sea. The sky shows a luminous sunset in colors of orange, yellow, russet and grayish mauve. The sea is calm as it gently plies the coast. On the left side of the canvas there is a small house built on the rocks by the sea. The lateness of the hour casts it into shadow.

Label TextCharles-François Daubigny French, 1817–1878 The Beach at Villerville at Sunset, 1873 Oil on canvas Though connected to the Barbizon group, the landscape artist Daubigny spent much of his career far from the group’s favored hamlet just southeast of Paris. The painting here depicts one of his own favorite spots—the remote fishing village of Villerville on the Normandy coast. With broken, summary brushstrokes and brilliant touches of yellow and orange, he casts a dramatic expanse of beach in the rosy sunset. Daubigny’s rapid painting technique and passion for capturing the fleeting effects of nature’s color and light directly anticipate the art of the Impressionists. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.635 ProvenanceThe artist, 1873-1878; the artist's studio sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, May 6, 1878; Verde-Delisle; Tedesco Frères, Paris, 1954; Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.; Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, 1971. Exhibition HistorySalon, Paris, 1873. (Exhib. cat. no. 414). "Welt-Ausstellung," Kunst Hof, Vienna, 1873. (Exhib. cat. no. 172?). "French Paintings 1789-1929 from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Dayton Art Institute, March 25 - May 22, 1960. (Exhib. cat. no. 30). "Paintings of the Barbizon School," Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, Jan. 6 - 29, 1962. (Exhib. cat. no. 19). "The Controversial Century 1850-1950," Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown, Massachusetts, and National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1962. "The Seashore," Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Oct. 22 - Dec. 5, 1965. (Exhib. cat. no. 10). "Veronese to Franz Kline: Masterworks from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk," for the benefit of The Chrysler Museum Art Reference Library, Wildenstein & Co., New York, NY, April 13 - May 13, 1978. (Exhib. cat. no. 21). "French Marine Paintings of the Nineteenth Century," Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, March 16 - May 5, 1985. (Exhib. cat. no. 8). "French Paintings from The Chrysler Museum", North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, May 31 - September 14, 1986; Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama, November 6, 1986 - January 18, 1987. (Exhib. cat. no. 30). "Impressionists by the Sea," Royal Academy of Arts, London, England, July 7 - September 30, 2007; The Phillips Collection, Washington D.C., October 20, 2007 - January 13, 2008; Wadsworth Atheneum Museum, Hartford, Connecticut, February 9 - May 11, 2008. "Daubigny, Monet, Van Gogh: Impressions of Landscape," Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati, OH, February 19 - May 29, 2016; National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, June 25 - October 2, 2016; Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, October 21, 2016 - January 29, 2017.Published ReferencesPriscilla C. Colt and Charles H. Elam. _French Paintings 1789-1929 from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr._. Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, Ohio. 1960. No.33. Foreword by Charles F. Comfort, LL.D., and an introduction by William S.A. Dale, Ph.D. _The Controversial Century: 1850-1950_. Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown, Massachusetts. 1962: n.p. Robert Hellebranth. _Charles-François Daubigny, 1817-1878_. Morges. 1976: 208, no. 618. Eric M. Zafran and Mario Amaya. _Veronese to Franz Kline: Masterworks from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk_. Norfolk, VA: The Chrysler Museum. 1978. No. 21. Jefferson C. Harrison. _French Paintings from the Chrysler Museum_. The Chrysler Museum. 1986. No. 30. Jefferson C. Harrison. _The Chrysler Museum Handbook of the European and American Collections: Selected Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings_. Norfolk, VA: The Chrysler Museum, 1991, 129, #103. John House and David Hopkin, _Impressionists by the Sea_, exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts, London, England, 2007, 89-91 fig. 43 & 133-134. Michael H. Duffy, _The Influence of Charles-François Daubigny (1817-1878) on French Plein-Airt Landscape Painting: Rustic Portrayals of Everyday Life in the Work of a Forerunner to Impressionism_, (Lewiston, New York: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2010), 134, Plate VI. Lynne Ambrosini, et. al., _Inspiring Impressionism: Daubigny, Monet, Van Gogh_ (Edinburg: National Gallerires of Scotland, 2016) 36, fig. 26. Viktoria von der Brüggen and Benjamin Findinier, _Les Couleurs de la Mer: Charles-François (1817-1878) et Karl (1846-1886) Daubigny en Normandie_ (Honfleur: Musée Eugène Boudin, 2020) 30, fig. 7.