Q104444959

This oil held at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris presents an anomaly: Harpignies was born in 1819, making the date of 1801 recorded in the database impossible as a year of production. This is almost certainly a cataloguing error — possibly a misread acquisition date, an error in transcription, or a database field confusion. The work should be considered undated for practical purposes. The Petit Palais context places it among other Harpignies holdings in that collection, and it should be understood as representing his practice at some point during his long career, most likely from his mature decades after 1860. The Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris holds a strong representation of nineteenth-century French landscape, and Harpignies's inclusion in this collection reflects his recognised standing within that tradition. Attribution to Harpignies is confirmed; only the date requires caution.

The oil technique reflects Harpignies's characteristic landscape approach, with confident tonal organisation and his signature handling of tree forms and atmospheric distance. The Petit Palais canvas demonstrates the consistent technical standards he maintained across his career regardless of the specific subject.