St. Maclou, Rouen
Burgess the Younger, John
about 1830
Artwork Information
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Title:
St. Maclou, Rouen
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Artist:
Burgess the Younger, John
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Artist Bio:
British, 1814–1874
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Date:
about 1830
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Medium:
Watercolor, gouache, and graphite on paper
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Dimensions:
22 1/4 x 15 1/2 inches
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Credit Line:
Wichita Art Museum, Museum purchase, Friends of the Wichita Art Museum
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Object Number:
1984.6
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Display:
Not Currently on Display
About the Artwork
John Burgess
British, 1814–1874
St. Maclou, Rouen, about 1830
Watercolor, gouache, and graphite on paper
Wichita Art Museum, Museum purchase, Friends of the Wichita Art Museum
1984.6
In St. Maclou, Rouen, villagers celebrate a local festival in front of the city’s St. Maclou Church. Burgess evokes an exuberant scene of rural life as priests and townspeople parade through the streets while flags and banners wave above them. Burgess’ painting lacks the meticulous, exacting draftsmanship common in many other scenes from this period. Instead, the church’s almost frilly stonework is emphasized by the artist’s loose brushwork. It is unclear whether the painting pictures the past or the present. Either way, Burgess evokes a vision of harmonious communal life lived under the shadow of a great cathedral—either a romanticized past without disease and war or an idyllic present untouched by urbanization and industrialization.