Henri Zuber – Sunset on the banks of the Loing, 1896

by Atelier Liesjes

The sun is sinking between the trees on the horizon. It has become a small, almost white disc, surrounded by a halo of old gold, and it is reflected in the river as a long, shimmering column of copper and peach. Thin wispy strands of mist hang above the water, softening the banks and the distance into vague, blue-grey silhouettes. On the left, a dark mass of foliage dominates, with branches hanging like a curtain over the top corner; on the right, poplars and bushes line the bank, with a small, moored rowing boat amongst the reeds. A few birds stand out like slashes against the sky. Zuber painted this scene with a great love of atmosphere. The transitions between pink, mother-of-pearl, olive green and umber are almost imperceptible. There are no hard lines, no detail that demands attention: everything gives way to the light. This makes the painting a typical nineteenth-century landscape in the Barbizon school, akin to the work of Corot, who captured the banks of the Loing near Moret-sur-Loing countless times. At the same time, it has a symbolist quality: the river as a mirror of the soul, twilight as the boundary between day and dream. The style is romantic-realist with neo-romantic traits; the colours are warm and muted, the atmosphere that of a long summer’s evening. The theme is the stillness of nature at the moment the light fades. The feeling that emanates from the canvas is one of calm, melancholy and space.
Jean Henri Zuber (Rixheim 1844 – Paris 1909) was a French landscape painter from Alsace. He served in the French Navy from 1863 to 1868 and took part in the expedition to Korea in 1866. In 1868, he became a pupil of Charles Gleyre and, from 1869, exhibited at the Salon.
An enchanting evening landscape, ideal as a tranquil, warm focal point in a living room or bedroom.