Description

Type: painting

Painter: Barthélemy Menn (* 1815, † 1893)

Object: oil painting

Material: oil on paper, on canvas

Dimensions: height: 30 cm, width: 44 cm; with frame: height: 49.5 cm, width: 63.5 cm

Manufacture year: second half of the 19th century

Condition: Painting has two small scratches, frame has some broken spots and missing parts

Signature: without (but there is a plaque on the frame with the inscription “By. Menn, 1815-1893”)

Details:
This painting by the Swiss landscape painter Barthélemy Menn was offered for auction at the spring 2023 auction at the Dobiaschofsky auction house in Bern (Switzerland) [1], but remained unsold. At the auction house “Koller Auktionen”, a similar Menn painting, albeit somewhat smaller in size, was sold for CHF 5400 (including buyer’s premium) [2]. The prices achieved at “Koller Auktionen” for other paintings by Barthélemy Menn vary widely [3].

The painter Barthélemy Menn is the main representative of the Geneva School, the most important representative of plein airism (open-air painting) in Switzerland [4] and one of the most important representatives of the “Paysage intime”. This style was concerned with the depiction of uncomplicated sections of nature from an artist’s perspective, free of historical and religious motifs. Paysage intime is considered the predecessor and cornerstone of Impressionism.

Barthélemy Menn is also particularly important because he discovered, supported and taught Ferdinand Hodler, one of the most important Swiss painters.

Footnotes:
[1] Dobiaschofsky, A135 Spring 2023, Sélection Swiss & International Art, catalog I, p. 12, Lot 8.
[2] Koller Auctions: Lot 3004 BARTHÉLEMY MENN, Vue sur le Lac Léman depuis Coinsins. Oil on paper on canvas.
[3] Koller Auctions: WORKS FROM OUR AUCTIONS: MENN, BARTHÉLEMY.
[4] Lukas Gloor and Peter Wegmann (eds.): Im Licht der Romandie. Oskar Reinhart als Sammler von Westschweizer Kunst, Ostfildern-Ruit 2001, p. 181.