Armand Charnay
April Showers on Sunday Morning
c. 1880
Physical Qualities
Oil on canvas, 9 11/16 x 13 3/16 in. (24.6 x 33.5 cm.).
Credit Line
The George A. Lucas Collection, purchased with funds from the State of Maryland, Laurence and Stella Bendann Fund, and contributions from individuals, foundations, and corporations throughout the Baltimore community
Object Number
1996.45.57
In his views of the countryside, towns, and villages surrounding Paris, Armand Charnay portrayed the daily activities of local inhabitants. Here, worshipers depart from a church, huddling together against the cool, spring rain. Their colorful umbrellas, cosmopolitan commodities, seem out of place beside the centuries-old medieval church the crowd is leaving. Contrasting the scenery of ancient France with the look of the region’s then-current inhabitants is a recurring strategy Charnay used to capture an ephemeral sense of modernity. Compositions such as this one also reflect the artist’s keen interest in nature’s atmospheric effects , seen here in the dense gray clouds reflected in the wet landscape.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 1996; The Maryland Institute College of Art,
through Henry Walters, Baltimore, by bequest 1909; from George A. Lucas, Paris
through Henry Walters, Baltimore, by bequest 1909; from George A. Lucas, Paris
The Maryland Institute, Baltimore, "Exhibition of the George A. Lucas Art Collection", 1911.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "The George A. Lucas Collection of the Maryland Institute", October 12-November 21, 1965.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "The George A. Lucas Collection: Maryland's Treasure", circulated to Government House, Annapolis, January 6-April 21, 1997; Strathmore Hall, North Bethesda, September 4-November 1, 1997; Academy of the Arts, Easton, January 31-March 7, 1998; and Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, July 26-September 27, 1998.
Sona Johnston, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "A View Toward Paris: The Lucas Collection of 19th-Century French Art", October 1, 2006-December 31, 2006.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "The George A. Lucas Collection of the Maryland Institute", October 12-November 21, 1965.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "The George A. Lucas Collection: Maryland's Treasure", circulated to Government House, Annapolis, January 6-April 21, 1997; Strathmore Hall, North Bethesda, September 4-November 1, 1997; Academy of the Arts, Easton, January 31-March 7, 1998; and Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, July 26-September 27, 1998.
Sona Johnston, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "A View Toward Paris: The Lucas Collection of 19th-Century French Art", October 1, 2006-December 31, 2006.
"Exhibition of the George A. Lucas Art Collection," Baltimore: The Maryland Institute, 1911, cat. #139.
"The George A. Lucas Collection of the Maryland Institute," Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1965, cat. #58.
Inscribed: FACE: BR, 'A. Charnay'. VERSO, FRAME: TC, 'BMA cat./1965/#58'
On View: Jacobs, Gallery 3
