Paintings I love
The Lock
Ferdinand Gueldry (France, 1858 – 1945)
1888
Oil on canvas, 166.8 x 211.4
Reims, Musée des Beaux-Arts
Ferdinand Gueldry painted from the age of thirteen. His studies completed, in 1876, he entered the School of Fine Arts in Paris and became a pupil of Léon Gérôme. Appointed official painter of the armies in 1915, he painted a lot during the war, in Champagne, at Chemin des Dames, at Ravin de la Mort. When the threat of the Second World War approached, he decided to take refuge in Switzerland with his family, where he died in 1945.
By its theme, this large composition testifies to the important history of canoeing at the time of its creation. The Nautical Society of the Marne of Joinville-le-Pont was created in 1876. With his brother Victor they were among the first members and went to England for rowing competitions. It is the practice of this sport that will allow him to paint it so well. Gueldry’s style is impressive: virtuoso of water treatment, whether to make it light or to capture its multiple reflections and vibrations.
The touch is light, the tones are fresh, the artist skilfully uses colors to make the colors sing. We are here in the lock at Neuilly-sur-Marne. In this hyperrealistic canvas, a real snapshot, sport and leisure boats mingle.
The representation is glaring with truth even in the details of the costumes of the boaters and those of the women. On the right, in the foreground, a boat; then comes a single scull, further on, a leisure boat. On the left, a woman kayaking. Along the wall of the lock is a steamboat for passenger transport. In the center of the composition, the eight point waits for the opening of the lock.
Source: Reims, Musée des Beaux-Arts
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