Entrance to Honfleur Harbor
Artist: Johan Barthold Jongkind (Dutch, 1819-1891)
Date: 1863
Dimensions:
H: 13 1/8 in. (33.3 cm); W: 18 1/4 in. (46.3 cm)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number: 1950.71
Label Text:In August of 1865 Dutch artist Johan Barthold Jongkind wrote to a friend:
“I have left Paris and here I am at Honfleur, the place to which I return as always with renewed pleasure. It is a little seaport where there are always ten or twenty ships of all nations, not counting the merchantmen and fishing boats of the same countries.”
Located on the coast of Normandy in northern France, Honfleur Harbor was a favorite spot of Jongkind’s. He spent the summers of 1862 through 1865 there, painting and sketching the atmospheric effects of sky, water, and light that the harbor offered. Jongkind worked en plein air (in the open air) like the Impressionists on whom he was an influence. Painted on a white ground rather than the dark ground typically preferred by French artists at the time, Entrance to Honfleur Harbor radiates the light of a clear summer day. Alluring brushstrokes enliven the canvas, mimicking the water’s movement.
“I have left Paris and here I am at Honfleur, the place to which I return as always with renewed pleasure. It is a little seaport where there are always ten or twenty ships of all nations, not counting the merchantmen and fishing boats of the same countries.”
Located on the coast of Normandy in northern France, Honfleur Harbor was a favorite spot of Jongkind’s. He spent the summers of 1862 through 1865 there, painting and sketching the atmospheric effects of sky, water, and light that the harbor offered. Jongkind worked en plein air (in the open air) like the Impressionists on whom he was an influence. Painted on a white ground rather than the dark ground typically preferred by French artists at the time, Entrance to Honfleur Harbor radiates the light of a clear summer day. Alluring brushstrokes enliven the canvas, mimicking the water’s movement.
Not on view
In Collection(s)