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John H. Twachtman (1853–1902)
Arques-la-Bataille, 1884
Oil on canvas; 18 1/4 x 25 7/8 in. (46.4 x 65.7 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Purchase, The Charles Engelhard Foundation Gift, 1991 (1991.130)
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During summer 1884 Twachtman—then a student at the Académie Julian—rented a château with his family at Arques-la-Bataille, near the port of Dieppe in Normandy, and focused on painting commonplace views of the Arques River valley. Here, he portrayed the edge of the Béthune, a tributary of the Arques, bordered by a fringe of reeds and meadow flowers. In his Paris studio the following winter, he reconsidered the naturalistic sketch and created his monumental canvas Arques-la-Bataille (1885; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York).
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