ALEXANDRE LOUIS JACOB | Soleil d'Automne, à la Marne
Oil on Panel
25.5 x 24 cms / 10 x 9½ inches
Signed 'A. Jacob' (lower left)
Jacob’s luminous river scene captures a lone boatman gliding along calm water, framed by tall, skeletal trees. His subtle layering of colour and gentle impasto give the sky and water a shimmering clarity. With restrained brushwork and a serene palette, Jacob conveys a moment of peaceful labour in the French countryside.
Few painters have captured the softness of northern France with the quiet authority of Alexandre Louis Jacob. From the banks of the Marne and the Seine to the frosted fields of the Oise, Jacob returned to the same river valleys year after year, finding endless variety in the changing light, shifting skies and reflections cast on still water.
His landscapes are understated yet profoundly atmospheric. A low winter sun diffused through cloud, the delicate shimmer of snow on a riverbank, a plume of chimney smoke rising over a tiled farmhouse roof - these are the moments Jacob excelled at preserving. His compositions are calm, often anchored by poplars or low horizon lines with vast, ever-present skies that carry the full emotional weight of the scene.
Jacob worked en plein air but never chased spectacle. He preferred the hush after a storm, the quiet thaw of early spring, or the warm haze of a September afternoon. His palette shifted with the seasons: pale blue and mauve in winter, ochre and grey-green in autumn, always tempered and finely judged.
Jacob’s appeal lies in this subtlety. He invites contemplation, not drama. Awarded the Hors Concours at the Paris Salon where he exhibited for over five decades, Jacob earned considerable acclaim during his lifetime. Since the 1950s, Gladwell & Patterson has been privileged to handle his work, placing it in important private collections across the world. In every composition, there is a sense of stillness and integrity, a moment observed and remembered with great care.
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