Description
| Title: | Jardin du Luxembourg |
| Other titles: | Luxembourg Gardens. Monument to Chopin; Le Jardin du Luxembourg. Monument à Chopin (catalogue titles) |
| Painter: | Henri Rousseau |
| Year painted: | 1909 |
| Original size: | 38 cm x 47 cm (height x width, as published) |
| Original technique: | oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | naive art (primitivism) |
| Held at: | State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia (inv. ГЭ-7716) |
| Our reproduction: | hand-painted oil on canvas, seven sizes or a size made to order |
Jardin du Luxembourg is a painting by Henri Rousseau, oil on canvas, signed and dated 1909 by the painter at the lower right. The original is published as 38 cm high and 47 cm wide and is held by the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg under inventory number ГЭ-7716. What you see: a corner of the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris, a pale stone monument with a bust among tall trees, and small strollers in straw hats on a curving path.
Jardin du Luxembourg
What is on the canvas?
The canvas is a little wider than it is high. Tall, dark, slender trunks rise across it and branch into feathery green crowns against a pale, cloudy sky; behind them a band of yellow-green trees and a low wall of dark hedge close the view. In the centre stands a pale grey stone column with a bust on top and a small figure on its front. A curving sandy path crosses the foreground and climbs to the right, edged with a scalloped border, with a sloping green lawn at the lower right. Small figures in straw hats walk along it: at the left a man in a cream suit with a cane, then a woman in a blue jacket and red skirt holding a closed red parasol; further up the path a man in grey with a cane, a woman in pink, and a woman in pale blue beside a child in red with a hoop. The signature and date, H. Rousseau 1909, are at the lower right.
Which monument stands among the trees?
The title under which the painting is catalogued names it: Luxembourg Gardens. Monument to Chopin, in French Le Jardin du Luxembourg. Monument à Chopin. On the canvas it is a pale column crowned by a bust, with a small figure on its front, set squarely between the trees rather than seen at an angle. We give the monument no date and no history of its own, because the record we could read says nothing about it. Another park Rousseau painted, which we also offer, is View of Montsouris Park, the Kiosk.
Where is the original, and why is there no link to it?
The work is listed as held by the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, inventory number ГЭ-7716. We found these details in the Wikidata entry, which ties the inventory number to the Hermitage and gives the year and the size. We could not check them on the museum’s own page, which would not open in a readable form, so we give no link to it and say so here, rather than link a page we have not been able to read. The year is on the canvas itself, beside the signature. Another view on the edge of Paris, whose museum record we have read, is Environs de Paris.
How large is the original, and what does that mean on a wall?
The published dimensions of the original are 38 cm high and 47 cm wide. Seven sizes are available: 47 x 38, 60 x 50, 70 x 60, 90 x 75, 110 x 90, 130 x 105 and 150 x 120 cm. The smallest, 47 x 38 cm, matches those published dimensions; because we could not check them against the museum’s own page, we give that as a match with the published figures, not as our own measurement. At a larger scale, 130 x 105 cm comes closest to the proportion. The strollers are less than ten centimetres tall on the original, so the larger sizes let their hats, the parasol and the hoop be seen from across the room. Custom sizes are ordered through the made-to-order painting page. Another tree-lined walk is The Avenue in the Park at Saint-Cloud.
How is a hand-painted reproduction made?
We paint your canvas painting by hand in oils after you order it, at the size you choose. From a high-resolution image of the original, the painter lays in the dark trunks first and then the crowns, one cluster of leaves at a time, keeping the small figures sharply outlined as Rousseau did. A hand-painted canvas always differs slightly from the next, and that difference is exactly what a print cannot give you. It is stretched on a wooden frame, ready to hang. Another quiet outdoor scene with no jungle in it is The Banks of the Bièvre near Bicêtre, and the whole collection is in the Henri Rousseau gallery.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the original kept?
At the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, inventory number ГЭ-7716, as published; we could not check the museum’s own page, so we do not link it.
When was it painted?
In 1909: Rousseau signed and dated the canvas at the lower right, H. Rousseau 1909.
Who are the people on the path?
Unnamed strollers: two men with canes, three women, one with a red parasol, and a child with a hoop. Nothing we could read names them.
Is this a print?
No. It is painted by hand in oils, and the layers of paint can be seen and felt.
Is the painting suitable as a gift?
Yes, especially for someone who loves Paris or parks: the scene is calm and bright. If you would rather the recipient chose, there is a gift voucher.
- Subject: the Chopin monument among tall trees in the Luxembourg Gardens, with small strollers in straw hats.
- Original: oil on canvas, 38 x 47 cm (height x width, as published), State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, inv. ГЭ-7716; 1909.
- Our version: hand-painted oil, seven sizes from 47 x 38 to 150 x 120 cm, or a size made to order.
- Of note: the museum’s own page could not be read from here, so this page names the museum and inventory as published and carries no link.
