Accession Number
2010.254
Medium
watercolor with graphite
Dimensions
Sheet: 22.8 x 27.6 cm (9 x 10 7/8 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Credit Line
Bequest of Muriel Butkin
Tags
Drawing Neoclassical & Romantic (1751–1850) Watercolor Graphite & Pencil French
Background & Context
Background Story
Jean Lubin Vauzelle (active late 18th-early 19th century) was a French artist known for the precisely observed, atmospherically composed landscape drawings that make him one of the accomplished artists of the French landscape tradition. Church by a Road from the late 1700s-1800s depicts a church by a road in the precisely observed, atmospherically composed manner that distinguishes Vauzelle's best work. Churches by roadsides were one of the most picturesque subjects in French landscape drawing, representing the intersection of rural architecture and the natural landscape, and Vauzelle's precisely observed, atmospherically composed treatment shows the French landscape drawing tradition at its most accomplished.
Cultural Impact
Church by a Road is important in the history of French landscape drawing because it demonstrates the precisely observed, atmospherically composed manner that Vauzelle brought to the depiction of rural architecture in the landscape. Churches by roadsides—representing the intersection of rural architecture and the natural landscape—were one of the most picturesque subjects in French landscape drawing, and the late 1700s-1800s drawing shows this tradition at its most precisely observed.
Why It Matters
Church by a Road is Vauzelle's precisely observed French landscape drawing: a church by a road rendered in the atmospherically composed manner of one of the accomplished artists of the French tradition. The late 1700s-1800s drawing shows the intersection of rural architecture and the natural landscape at its most precisely observed.
