Sérusier's Boys on a river bank: a technical examination
Introduction

Paul Sérusier's Boys on a river bank was purchased for the National Gallery of Victoria through the Felton Bequest in 1948. The painting is dated 1906, but examination has revealed a complete underlayer of paint, carrying an almost identical composition and likely to have been applied at a much earlier time. The texture of this underlayer suggests that the painted canvas was rolled at some stage, with the top layer later being applied over the resulting ridges, losses and cupping in the paint beneath.

Technical examination of the work proceeded with the aim of trying to establish a dating for the earlier paint layer. Pigments the artist used in each of the two layers were identified, and were considered in the light of his colour theories and of related shifts in his palette. Sérusier's contact with Gauguin may also provide some clues about the conception of the composition of the Melbourne picture.

 

Paul SÉRUSIER
French 1864–1927
Boys on a river bank 1906
oil on canvas
61.0 x 73.2 cm
Felton Bequest 1948
1899-4