Lot 38: Henry Herbert La Thangue (1859-1929)

Henry Herbert La Thangue (1859-1929)
Twilight
signed with initials 'H.H.L.' (lower left)
oil on canvas, unframed
15 x 17 in. (38.1 x 43.1 cm.)

In the years leading up to the Great War, Henry Herbert La Thangue haunted the hill villages of Provence, establishing a studio at Bormes-les-Mimosas. The ancient bridle paths leading to olive groves, hill farms and ruined forts provided an ideal rusticity which he felt was disappearing from the English shires. In this congenial atmosphere he was able to work peacefully in the open air. George Clausen recalled that 'he would never paint except with the object before him: holding this to be the only true way, and that its limitations were balanced by the general truth obtained'. La Thangue would not work in the studio from studies and hence his preparatory sketches are few. Each piece, no matter how small, was intended to be a complete statement in itself.

The style of the buildings in the present work suggests that this is a Provencal, rather than a Ligurian or Balearic landscape. One of the products of La Thangue's first visit to the south of France, December in Provence, 1902 (Private Collection) shows a hill village viewed from the valley floor - with an impressive array of structures similar to, but not the same as those we see here. In future years, impressive Academy pieces like this were backed up by smaller works such as Hillside in Provence, in which the painter explored the subtle impressionistic effects of waning sunlight.

When canvases like this were collected for a solo exhibition in 1914 they were famously hailed by Walter Sickert for their 'beautiful and interesting sensations of nature' worked out from a warm colour base 'grading from russet to ruby'. It is this completely individual combination of subtlety and simplicity that we see in microcosm in the present work.

We are grateful to Kenneth McConkey for his help in preparing this catalogue entry.