Windsor Bridge on the Irwell
Summary
Grey, Impressionist, smog-filled scene, showing Irwell Street Bridge (incorrectly titled Windsor Bridge), a bridge from the industrial age with an open iron-work structure, seen spanning the Irwell. The pale sky silhouettes the bridge and nearby buildings and its light is reflected on the water below, together with the dappled reflection of the bridge. At each end of the bridge are indistinct, hazy masses, representing industrial buildings. Below the bridge, to the left, is the shadowy form of a barge with its red and green port and starboard lights shining through the haze.
Display Label
Windsor Bridge on the Irwell 1909 Adolphe Valette 1876-1942 Oil on jute Valette was a great admirer of Claude Monet, whose late Impressionist paintings of London bridges he must have seen or known from reproductions, as their influence on this work is so obvious. Like Monet and other French Impressionists, Valette loved English mists and fogs as these allowed him to diffuse outlines and create mysterious and atmospheric effects. This painting shows Irwell Street Bridge from Salford. It belongs to a series of Manchester views, on which the artist worked from 1908 until 1913, and was one of his first works exhibited in England. Purchased 1928.33
Object Name
Windsor Bridge on the Irwell
Creators Name
Date Created
1909
Dimensions
Canvas: 50.4cm x 61.1cm
Frame: 73.5cm x 88.7cm
accession number
1928.33
Place of creation
Manchester
Support
Jute
Medium
oil paint
Credit
Purchased from the Artist
Legal
© Manchester Art Gallery
