Skip to main content

Last Rays of Sun on a Field of Sainfoin

(French, 1814–1873)
about 1870
Country of Origin, for CustomsFrance
Medium/TechniqueOil on canvas
Dimensions95.9 x 134 cm (37 3/4 x 52 3/4 in.)
Credit LineGift of Mrs. Charles Goddard Weld
Accession number22.78
On View
Not on view
ClassificationsPaintings
Collections
Description
Chintreuil shows a sunset over a field, where workers have been harvesting sainfoin--literally, "healthy hay"--to provide feed for animals.  In the distance at right, the flowering mass of sainfoin contrasts with the piles of new-mown hay seen against the low light of the sun. At left, a horse-drawn cart is laden with the harvested plants.
InscriptionsLower left: Chintreuil
ProvenanceBy 1870 until at least 1874, Mr. Fassin, Reims [see note 1]. By 1889, Charles Goddard Weld (b. 1857 - d. 1911), Brookline, MA [see note 2]; by inheritance to his widow, Hannah Putnam Train Weld (b. 1858 - d. 1943), Brookline; 1922, bequest of Mrs. Charles Goddard Weld to the MFA. (Accession Date: February 2, 1922)

NOTES:
[1] Mr. Fassin lent the painting back to the artist to exhibit at the 1870 Salon, and he lent it to the exhibition "Tableaux, études et dessins de Chintreuil," Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, April 25 - May 15, 1874, no. 208. [2] He first lent the painting to the MFA in 1889.
Sitting Room
Antoine Vollon
about 1870
Lion and Boar
Antoine Louis Barye
Formation III (Green Landscape)
Arthur Garfield Dove
about 1942
Goldfish
Gerrit Willem Dijsselhof
Self-Portrait
Victorine Meurent
about 1876
The Magnanimity of Lycurgus
Jean-Jacques François Le Barbier
1791
Madonna and Child
Barbara Longhi
Halt at the Spring
François Boucher
1765
Return from Market
François Boucher
1767