Landscape with a Pond
c. 1879
Jean-Jacques Henner French, 1829-1905
France
“Jean-Jacques Henner is as little known today as he was famous during his lifetime,” quipped Rodolphe Rapetti in his 2003 monograph on the artist. Winning the Prix de Rome in 1858, Henner found inspiration in the chiaroscuro (strong contrasts of light and dark) and sfumato (smoky or hazy effects) of Caravaggio’s art. When he returned to his native Alsace in the wake of the Franco-Prussian War, his works became even dreamier and more deeply infused with melancholy.
Black chalk on ivory laid paper laid down on blue laid paper partially discolored to tan