Snowscapes

Robert, Bertie and I received a Christmas card from a friend (and his dog, Akiko) that so far is runner-up in the hotly contested Best Christmas Card Competition – renamed Covid at Christmas Cock-Up this year.

He sent Snow at Argenteuil by Claude Monet.

“Snow at Argenteuil is an oil-on-canvas landscape painting from the Impressionist artist Claude Monet. It is the largest of no fewer than eighteen works Monet painted of his home commune of Argenteuil while it was under a blanket of snow during the winter of 1874–1875. (Wikipedia)

Argenteuil is a suburb north-west of Paris where Monet lived with his family for six years and the picture belongs to the London National Gallery. It has perspective, skilful colouring and brushwork. I am led into the picture to wonder who the two figures are and what they are talking about.

The Blessing in the Village is less opaque. Hans Bachmann, like Monet, painted what he saw. As you may not be familiar with him I will let Artnet  inform us.

“Hans Bachmann was a Swiss painter best known for his alpine landscapes and village scenes. He is noted for his high level of accuracy in depicting the local customs and clothing of rural alpine villagers, rendering his subject with soft, luscious brushstrokes of color. In the charming painting Mutter mit Kind, a smiling rosy-cheeked mother and child are set against a rustic cottage and soaring mountainscape. Born on April 30, 1852 in Winikon, Switzerland, Bachmann went on to study at the Dusseldorf Academy of Art in Germany under Karl Hoff. He later worked as an illustrator for books while continuing to make his own paintings, and today some of Bachmann’s works are in the collection of the Museum of Art Lucerne in Switzerland. He died on December 11, 1917 in Lucerne, Switzerland.” (artnet.com)

That is not an exceptional picture; Blessing in the Village is. It evokes King Wenceslas stepping out with his Page when the snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even. Bachmann was not trying to make a statement; he simply recorded the deference shown to the Church then. Fine vestments contrast with the villagers’ attire and what is the man on the right carrying on his back – water perhaps? The altar boy looks insufferably smug. It is an intriguing composition that raises lots of questions while being visually satisfying.

An imaginative choice of card by the Grand Duchy but I must warn the Honorary Consul in Ireland, one of my teenage great-nephews is visiting Luxembourg so he may get an SOS if things get out of hand.