(Metz 1769–1825 Paris)
An extensive landscape with a stagecoach,
signed and dated lower right: Swebach. 1821,
oil on canvas, 52 x 111.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Collection of Louis-Philippe Duke d’Orleans (1773–1850), later King of the French (1830);
with Richard Green, London;
sale, Dorotheum, Vienna, 12 December 1978, lot 132;
Private collection, Upper Austria

Praised as the ‘Wouwerman of our time’ by contemporary art critics, Jacques François Joseph Swebach-Desfontaines depicts a brilliantly lit genre scene in the present work. The scene is set in the southern French countryside against an extensive mountainous landscape. As expected from his byname, the artist was lauded for his accuracy in depicting horses and completed works in genres as military convoys, battle scenes, skirmishes, horse markets and hunting scenes. The present genre painting is an exception to the rule within the body of works of the artist. Often, they are characterised by small groups of figures and interlaced with a humorous touch, as seen in the present painting. The centrally placed stagecoach is where the story unfolds. The gentleman in the green velvet coat on the white horse is in discussion with either the couple in the carriage or the high-hatted coachman riding the harnessed horse. On his right, a glimpse of a light-green-coated-figure is visible. Whether this figure is about to enter the coach or open the door for the passengers is uncertain. Caught up in his dialogue, the gentleman completely ignores the peasant’s family trying to sell him their fruits and harvest.

Taught in the profession by his father François-Louis Swebach in Metz, the young artist continued his training with Michel Duplessis in Paris. He executed works in the above-mentioned genres both in painting and engraving. Between 1791 and 1823, Swebach-Desfontaines exhibited at the Salon, where he received a medal in 1810. Besides his depiction of horses, the artist was renowned for his attention to detail and interest in narrative, of which the present work attests. Between 1802 and 1813, Swebach-Desfontaines was Premier Peintre at the Sèvres porcelain factory and from 1815 to 1820, the artist worked for Tsar Alexander I as Premier Peintre at the imperial porcelain factory in Saint Petersburg, from where he continued to send works to the Salon.