Vladimir Davidovich Baranov-Rossiné

Pauline Baranov-Rossiné, the wife of the artist
Thence by descent to the previous owner

Original canvas. The canvas is slack in the stretcher and is slightly undulated. There is a layer of light surface dirt. There are lines of craquelure throughout and chips of paint-loss to the top left quartile. UV light reveals no apparent retouching. Held in a simple bronze painted plaster frame. Unexamined out of frame.
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During his first stay in Paris Baranov-Rossiné was influenced by such artists as Léger, Delaunay and Picasso but the main source of his inspiration was the landscape painting of Paul Cézanne. The Church belongs to a group of landscapes executed between 1910 and 1914 and is a wonderful example of Baranov-Rossiné's fascination with the epic paintings of Cézanne's last years.

His many paintings of Mont Sainte-Victoire held in museum collections around the world are testimony to his lifelong interest in the peak near Aix.  Whilst in his earlier portrayals of Mont Sainte-Victoire Cézanne shows the mountain at a considerable distance, in later years, he appears to draw ever closer to the peak (fig.1).

Baranov-Rossiné's work from the early 1910s suggests a similar fascination with the use of perspective in structuring his compositions. In the offered lot, he generates a sense of drama by suspending the viewer over the landscape, whilst in another depiction of the same scene the church is set on a pedestal of rock like a heroic sculpture and enclosed by trees (fig.2).  

The canvas comes alive with the colour and powerful rhythm of Baranov-Rossiné's dynamic brushstrokes. The irregular and, in places, flame-like silhouettes of the trees against the sky form a contrast with the austere form of the building, creating a visual tension within the composition, and conveying the suspense of the discovery the viewer has made, stepping out from these woods. True to post-impressionist ideals, Baranov-Rossiné does not to reproduce images of the landscape at a certain time of day, but constructs the painting intellectually, according to his memories.