A View of Moulins
ca. 1850–60
Medium
Graphite and watercolor on heavy wove paper
Dimensions
12 1/2 x 20 1/16 in. (31.7 x 51 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Robert Lehman Collection
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
Accession Number
1975.1.644
Tags
Art Historical Context
Henri-Joseph Harpignies *A View of Moulins created around 1850–60, offers a serene glimpse into the French countryside through the intimate medium of graphite and watercolor heavy wove paper. 12½ × 20⅛ inches, this landscape drawing captures the architectural and natural charms of Moulins, a town in central France, with delicate pencil lines defining forms and translucent watercolor washes evoking atmospheric light and depth. The heavy wove paper, prized for its durability and subtle texture, was ideal for such mixed-media works, allowing Harpignies to blend precision with fluidity. Harpignie...
About the Artist
Henri-Joseph Harpignies · 1819–1916
Henri-Joseph Harpignies (1819–1916) was a French landscape painter and watercolorist of extraordinary longevity whose career spanned nearly the entire history of nineteenth-century French art. Born in Valenciennes in northern France, he came to painting relatively late, beginning serious study only in his late twenties under Jean-Alexis Achard, a landscape painter working in the naturalist traditi...