Au bord du Lez

1868
Huile sur toile
en bas à gauche F. Bazille 1868
Collection particulière
Dernière mise à jour : 2025-12-02 11:08:02
Référence : MSb-286

Fleeing Paris and its Haussmannian construction works, Bazille finds himself, as every summer, within his family cocoon, surrounded by his beloved parents and his many cousins who appear in his famous painting La Réunion de famille at the Musée d’Orsay. Far from his Parisian studio, he wanders through his native Languedoc, goes as far as Aigues-Mortes, and roams the surrounding countryside. Not far from Méric, the family estate on the heights of Montpellier, Castelnau-le-Lez overlooks the eponymous river that lazily flows below, which can be seen in his Vue de village.

Few in this region, ponds and rivers are places he uses to stage his Pêcheur à l’épervier, his Scène d’été and his Femme nue de dos, thereby proving that he is a keen observer of the female body.

Au bord du Lez fits within this allegory. The couple seems to want to embrace the softness of the place in which they are set. Through the position of the figures, their arms, their exchanged glances, one can easily imagine that this is a moment of romantic exchange—at least we may suppose so. Whatever the case, the scene conveys the peaceful atmosphere and sultry heat of a summer’s day. Bazille’s sources of inspiration are clear. One may note La Source by Courbet (1868) at the Musée d’Orsay and the Baigneuse by Bouguereau (1865) at the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent (shown below respectively on the left and the right). To name only these, for this theme was often revisited by artists in the 19th century.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Between our painting Au bord du Lez and other works by Bazille, certain comparisons are unavoidable. It is obviously the woman’s body that draws all attention, as in the Nu allongé de dos and Femme nue de dos , where the lighting emphasizes form and heightens the sheen of the skin. Certain parallels cannot escape us. Water, always present, alters bodies as if through a magnifying effect, such as the arms of the young swimmer in Scène d’été. In the painting Au bord du Lez, it plays much the same role. Other comparisons add to this last one: the striped bath towel thrown at the lower left of our painting bears a strange resemblance to that of La Mauresque, executed a year later; the vegetation that recalls that of the Pêcheur à l’épervier; and finally, the red ribbon on the head of the young girl in the Vue de village , comparable to the one in our painting. As for the signature, it scripturally matches that of the Nature morte aux raisins, though in different colours (see below).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The corpus of Bazille’s work expands as time goes by, calling into question the assertions of certain art historians who sought to limit its scope.

Michel Schulman