Lot 107: Henry Herbert La Thangue, R.A. (1859-1929)

The Trout Stream, Provençe
oil on canvas
26 3/4 x 29 1/2 in. (68 x 75 cm.)
Painted circa 1921.

Having accumulated sketches of Provençe, Liguria and Andalusia over a period of twelve years, Henry Herbert La Thangue staged an exhibition of small works and landscapes at the Leicester Galleries in 1914. Up to this point he was known primarily as a painter of the human figure and this new direction in his work came as a surprise to some commentators. Nevertheless his views of hill-top villages, misty mountain ranges and small fishing ports, revealed a hitherto unrevealed impressionism that found favour with Walter Sickert. La Thangue had found a language - an 'opaque mosaic' for recording sensations - which was his own and while clearly in the mainstream of modern painting, his métier was different from that of Monet or Cezanne. Sickert recognized that he was dealing with a rigorous plein air painter who had devised a way of recording the motif that emerged in tiny rhythmic touches of pigment, uniquely capable of rendering the effects of sunlight falling through the trees and reflected on the surface of water.

In the present riverbank scene, these intangible elements of light, air and water rather than the solid image of the fieldworker have become his subject. A pool of shimmering sunlight occupies the centre of the canvas which like the sensations of depth and surface reflection observed in Monet's Nympheéas, ripples into the immediate foreground, under the artist's feet and away to his side. Overhead we see it dropping through the canopy of pollarded trees which shade the river and shield the houses on the distant bank from the worst of the Mistral. Further protection is provided by a stone embankment containing a series of overflow inlets which may form part of a mill race at some point downstream. The relaxed atmosphere and warm climate of such villages and small towns frequently portrayed in La Thangue's work after 1902, made them a haven for painters like Lee Hankey, MacLaughlan Milne and many other British artists of the inter-war period.

Although the location has not been identified, we can say with reasonable certainty that this is a view of the river which appears in A Provençal Trout Stream, shown at the Royal Academy in 1921 (no. 60). The picture contains two boys fishing on the riverbank. A tree-lined road, buildings and stone embankment with inlets, ranged to the right, are similar to those in the present work, making it probable that the painter has simply turned from the downstream view to that of upstream. The Academy canvas shows a wider expanse and is more evenly lit than the present work. One further example, A Provençal Road, exhibited at the Academy in 1924 (no. 125) also featuring two juvenile fisherman, may represent this same stretch of river. In addition, all three canvases are roughly the same size. Boys fishing were clearly not considered a necessary addition to The Trout Stream, Provençe, a work which relies more on the elements of nature - trees, water, light and shade - suffused by the warmth of an autumn day in the south of France.

We are grateful to Kenneth McConkey for his help in providing the above catalogue entry.

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