European Art and Old Masters

Note Luce first visited Rolleboise, a pretty little village on the Seine between Bonnières and Mantes, in 1917. As Denise Bazetoux states, “it was love at first sight between the painter and the village built in terraces on the hillside.” While Luce first rented a room in the village, he quickly grew fond of the surroundings and eventually bought a house near the local church. This marked the beginning of what scholars describe as The Rolleboise Period, a moment of sheer joy for the artist, which highly contrasts with Luce’s earlier industrial landscapes, and to a larger extent with the horrors of World War I. According to Jean Texcier, "In Rolleboise, Luce painted his most serene and harmonious works, which carry on the great tradition of French landscape painting. They make him the heir of Poussin in the layout and rhythm of his compositions, and of Corot, in that poetry of matter which gives each of his paintings that admirable resonance which affects our innermost feelings". The present work depicts a nearby farmyard, where two peasant women are seen hard at work near a cart filled with freshly collected hay. The scene is captured in a bold palette and a loose style, showing Luce’s care and attention towards such common scenes and people, whose quiet company and humble simplicity he enjoyed the most.