"Alexandre-marie COLIN (1778- 1875) - The return from fishing, circa 1840"
Oil on canvas
Signed at the bottom left
Dimensions : 27 x 40.5 cm
With frame: 34 x 48 cm
Parisian painter of French Romanticism.
The painting represents a return from fishing, with a romantic invoice and a dynamic composition. The characters, mainly women and children accompanied by a dog, rest after the effort of fishing and collecting shells.
We find in this work the great characteristics of Romanticism: an idealization of the scene where the expression of feelings is very present, many expressive looks are exchanged between the protagonists. The light and the colors, dear to the romantics, illuminate the canvas. The colorful hats of the children have various patterns, the scarves as well as the outfits of the fishermen sport different teintes.La composition is structured by a descending diagonal constituted by the three fishermen of the first plan. The painter's invoice serves the solidity of the composition.
Alexandre-Marie Colin paints with the Romantics.
Student of Anne-Louis Girodet, he became a painter of history, genre, portrait and landscape. We know him some lithographs and drawings.
Great friend of Delacroix, figurehead of French Romanticism, and Richard Bonington, English romantic painter of the most important of his time, Colin participated in the Parisian Salons from 1819 until the end of his career. He was medalist and awarded from 1824 to 1840, painted the decoration of the church of Saint-Roch in 1851 and was appointed professor of drawing at the Fine Arts of Nîmes when he matured.
Often, posterity has confused some of Delacroix's paintings with those of Colin. From the artist, we remember his portraits of the Parisian beau monde, painters (for example, the Portrait of Géricault, 1924) and actors in stage costumes. Otherwise, he paints landscapes of Italy and historical paintings of the struggle for the Independence of Greece, inspired by the poetic masterpieces of Lord Byron.
Bibliography :
• Emmanuel Bénézit, "Dictionary of painters, sculptors, draftsmen and engravers", t. 3, Paris, Gründ Bookstore, 1976, p. 772
* Michel Nicolas, "History of artists, painters, sculptors, architects and musicians-composers of the Gard department", Nîmes, Ballivet Printing House, 1859, p. 14-15
• "Catalog of paintings and copies of Alexandre Colin, history painter, knight of the legion of honor and antique furniture, porcelain, earthenware, costumes, fabrics, various objects that lined his workshop whose sale will take place following his death on Wednesday, February 2, 1876", Paris, Hotel Drouot, 1876, p. I-XII
Museum :
Paris :
    • Louvre Museum department of Paintings, Louvre Museum department of Graphic Arts, Matignon hotel.
     * Versailles, national museum of the castles of Versailles and Trianon, north wing of the ministers, Lambinet museum.
In the provinces :
Rouen, museum of fine arts.
Dijon, Magnin National Museum.
Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue, maritime museum of Tatihou Island.
Autun, Rolin Museum.
Chantilly, Condé Museum.
Tours, museum of fine arts.
Dijon, museum of fine arts.
Internationally :
Munich,
Florence