I’m posting a short series of reproduction oil on canvas paintings that feature bridges, I hope you like them! (Images courtesy of Soho Art Reproduction Painting Gallery)
1766 – Reproduction oil on canvas painting: ’Landscape with a Stone Bridge’ – Hubert Robert
French artist Hubert Robert traveled to Rome and immersed himself in the city’s creative milieu for eleven years - returning to Paris in 1765. He painted this classical Italianate oil on canvas painting ‘Landscape With a stone Bridge’ the year after his return to the French capital in 1766.
1832 – Oil on canvas reproduction painting - Carl Blechen – ‘Devil’s Bridge’
German artist Carl Blechen was born in 1798. His paintings defy classification with their allusions to ‘dungeons and dragons’ and fantasy. Its German title is ’Bau der Teufelsbrücke’, Blechen completed ‘Devils Bridge’ in oil on canvas in 1832. The painting measures 77.8 cm by 104.5 cms (approx 30 5/8 inches by 41 1/8 inches) making original size rproductions of the painting ideal size for a modern home.
1860 – Reproduction oil on canvas painting: ’ Natural Bridge’ – David Johnson
American Hudson River School and Luminist artist, David Johnson painted this romantic and sentimental landscape painting in 1860 – a century or so after Hubert Robert’s painting. A beautiful oil on canvas reproduction of ‘Natural Bridge’ in Virginia . David Johnson, originally from New York, was renowned for the meticulous representation of light and shade in his oil paintings. The original of Johnson’s ‘Natural Bridge’ (14 1/4 by 22 1/14 inches oil on canvas) can be seen at the Reynolda House Museum of American Art in Winston Salem.
1874 – Reproduction oil on canvas painting: ‘The Bridge at Villeneuve-la-Garenne’ – Alfred Sisley
Alfred Sisley was born in France to British parents in 1839. He became a leading impressionist landscape painter, renowned for his landscape paintings around Hampton on the River Thames, England others painted in the Moret-sur-Loing area of France. Bridges feature in a number of Sisley’s oil on canvas artworks – in particular: “The Bridge at Villeneuve-la-Garenne” in 1872 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), Bridge at Hampton Court in 1874 (Wallraf-Richartz-Museum in Cologne, Germany), Under the Bridge at Hampton Court in 1874 (Kunstmuseum, Winterthur, Germany) and Footbridge at Argenteuil in 1872 at the beautiful former train station – now art museum – the Musee d’Orsay, Paris. The original of Sisley’s ’Footbridge at Argenteuil’ measures 39 x 60 cm making it a perfect reproduction oil on canvas painting for a smaller wall space, in its original size.
1875 – Hand painted oil on canvas reproduction painting: ‘The Seine Near the Pont de Jena’ – Paul Gauguin
Whereas Alfred Sisley was content to paint impressionist landscapes throughout his artistic career, French artist (and manic depressive) Paul Gauguin strove to push the boundaries of perception and creativity in his oil on canvas paintings. This reproduction of the 1875 Paul Gauguin painting ‘The Seine near the Pont de Jena’ is one of Gauguin’s earlier paintings and pre-dates his move towards post impressionism and his association with Van Gogh that led to the rise of Fauvism. Although painted at about the same time as the Sisley painting – Gauguin’s Pont de Jena is somehow far moodier. It’s a larger painting than the Sisley too – measuring 62 cm by 92.5 cms – making it something over three feet wide. I feel the larger size works well with the Gauguin and a museum quality reproduction of the Pont de Jena (priced around $300- 400 us from reputable reproduction painting galleries) does the painting full justice in original size.
1887 – Hand painted reproduction of Vincent Van Gogh’s ‘Bridge across the Seine at Asnieres’
Vincent Van Gogh painted a series of landmark oil on canvas paintings around Asnieres on the River Seine in 1887. For the first time in Dutch master Van Gogh’s career we see the breakthrough that defined his post impressionist style of painting. Many of Van Gogh’s paintings in Asnieres feature the theme of creeping industrialization – making the bridge a perfect subject for this study. I particularly like the juxstoposition of the small canoe like boats lined up along the reed bank with the belching black smoke of the railway. ’Bridges Across the Seine at Asnieres’ measures 52 by 65 cm (20 1/2 inches by 25 3/5 inches) in its original size.
1901 – Reproduction of John Henry Twachtman oil on canvas painting ’Bridge in Winter’
Across the Atlantic, Ohio born American impressionist John Henry Twachtman painted ‘Bridge in Winter’ in 1901. Twachtman had previously studied in France at the Academie Julien in Paris, but his return to the United States did not bring him commercial success with his paintings. Twachtman’s most famous oil on canvas paintings were painted around his Greenwich farm, mostly commonly depicting Winter scenes, often with snow. Twachtman’s most well known paintings depicting bridges are ‘The White Bridge’ which he painted in 1889 as a Winter study and circa 1900 is a rather chocolate box, sentimental Spring /Summer study.
1913 – The Yellow Bridge at Ceret, Auguste Herbin
Whilst Twachtman was painting in Greenewich at the turn of the century, back in Europe the art world was about to experience a revolution. I have chosen a reproduction Auguste Herbin painting titled ‘Yellow Bridge at Ceret’. Ceret lies in the Catalan region that separates the South of France from Spain. It was a magnet for artists including Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque who painted there in 1911 -1912, as well as Chaim Soutine, and later, Harold Weston. Whilst we are all familiar with Picasso and Braque’s Cubist ‘revolution I like the idea of posting Auguste Herbin’s 1913 Cubist painting ‘The Yellow Bridge’ as an illustrtion of Braque’s and Picasso’s influence.
