{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O134111"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O134111/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BP0652/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BP0652/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2007BP0652","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018KN4871","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019LX2085","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O134111/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O134111","accessionNumber":"1602-1869","objectType":"Oil painting","titles":[{"title":"Catching frogs","type":""}],"summaryDescription":"Barthélemy Menn (1815-1893) was born in Geneva where he was taught by W. A. Töpffer and subsequently by Léonard Lugardon (1801-1884), a former pupil of Ingres and Jean-Antoine Gros. Menn later studied with Ingres and followed him in Rome. He mostly produced portraits and landscapes close to the school of Barbizon although he made his debut with historical subjects. Menn taught two generations of painters including Maurice Dudevant, Georges Sand's son, and Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918).\r\n\r\nThis painting is a fine example of Menn's transitional manner when he took his distance with history painting under the influence of Ingres and was attracted by a freer approach of nature developed by Corot and the school of Barbizon. The composition combines a landscape with a pleasant genre scene and is executed in a broader manner, which places the execution of the painting in the 1840s. The title of the painting, 'Catching frogs', given in the donor's inventory elucidates the subject matter. The interest in rural subject and atmospheric effects is typical of the Realist movement admired by Menn, which emerged in France in the 1840s.","physicalDescription":"Two women resting on a headland with a baby while a young boy is observing the surface of a pond; people gathered by the edge of a river in the background; linen drying in the wind on the left.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Menn, Barthélémy","id":"A18051"},"association":{"text":"painter (artist)","id":"AAT25136"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"oil paint","id":"AAT15050"},{"text":"paper","id":"x30308"},{"text":"cardboard","id":"AAT14224"}],"techniques":[{"text":"oil painting","id":"AAT178684"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Oil on paper laid on cardboard","categories":[{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"}],"styles":[{"text":"Swiss School","id":"x31273"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2007BP0652","2018KN4871","2019LX2085"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"A","id":"THES304225"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"oil painting","id":"AAT33799"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Switzerland","id":"x29199"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":"possibly"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1840-1847","earliest":"1835-01-01","latest":"1847-12-31"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Bequeathed by Rev. Chauncey Hare Townshend","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"20.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"estimate painting","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"29.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"estimate painting","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"345","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"23/01/2018","earliest":"2018-01-23","latest":"2018-01-23"},"part":"frame","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"430","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"23/01/2018","earliest":"2018-01-23","latest":"2018-01-23"},"part":"frame","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"65","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"23/01/2018","earliest":"2018-01-23","latest":"2018-01-23"},"part":"frame","note":"measured by conservation"}],"dimensionsNote":"Painting dimensions taken from C.M. Kauffmann, <i>Catalogue of Foreign Paintings, II. 1800-1900</i>, London, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1973. Frame dimensions taken by conservation.","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'B Menn'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Signed by the artist, lower left"}],"objectHistory":"Rev. Chauncey Hare Townshend, listed in the 1868 post-mortem register of the contents of his villa in Lausanne (V&A R/F MA/1/T1181) as 'Oil on millboard. Catching frogs. By B. Menn. In frame. Signed. Swiss. Present century'; bequeathed by Rev. Chauncey Hare Townshend, 1868.\n\nHistorical significance: The present painting is one of a group of 6 works by Menn, originally owned by the Rev. Townshend who gathered a rich collection of 19th-century landscape paintings. It is possible that Townshend acquired directly the painting from the artist as he had the habit of spending the winter in Lausanne, not far from Geneva where resided the artist.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Oil painting, 'Catching Frogs', Barthélémy Menn, Swiss school, ca. 1840-1847","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Kauffmann, C.M. <u>Catalogue of Foreign Paintings, II. 1800-1900 </u>, London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1973, pp. 70-72, cat. no. 158."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Brüschweiler, J., <u>Barthéelemy Menn 1815-1893</u>, Zurich, 1960, fig. 32, p. 166, illus."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"women","id":"AAT25943"},{"text":"baby","id":"x38342"},{"text":"pond","id":"AAT8688"},{"text":"river","id":"AAT8707"},{"text":"boy","id":"x42934"},{"text":"figures","id":"x31098"},{"text":"landscape","id":"x35496"}],"contentConcepts":[{"text":"genre scene","id":"x45353"}],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["1602-1869"],"accessionNumberNum":"1602","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1869,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-09","recordCreationDate":"2007-04-23","availableToBook":true}}