Attributed to Jean Henry d'Arles, French 1734-1784- Fire in the Rhone Valley; oil on canvas, 28.4 x 40.5 cm. Note: Owing his name to the town in which he was born, Henry spent the majority of his artistic career working around Marseille and Arles...

Attributed to Jean Henry d'Arles, French 1734-1784- Fire in the Rhone Valley; oil on canvas, 28.4 x 40.5 cm. Note: Owing his name to the town in which he was born, Henry spent the majority of his artistic career working around Marseille and Arles. The present work depicts a nocturnal scene, most likely to be the medieval bridge by Pont-Sant-Esprit, a small town further upstream of Arles. Henry studied under Claude Joseph Vernet from 1754 and would go on to complete his training in Rome, funded by his patron Jean-Baptiste Rey. Dramatic night time scenes were a theme Henry visited often and the present work displays a number of similarities to 'Village en feu sous un orage la nuit' (1758) held at the Musée de Valence (no.2001.10.2).
The canvas has been relined and is held on a replacement stretcher with a central vertical cross member. The canvas is taut on the stretcher and sits well in the frame. There are two repair patches verso. The paint surface is stable on the support. Fine and settled craquelure throughout. There is a shiny patch towards the right hand edge recto, likely retouching, that corresponds to one of the repair patches verso. This is only visible at certain angles. The painted details are very well preserved and the colours are fresh. UV light inspection reveals some areas of retouching: around the repaired tear to the right and just to the right of the left tower (corresponding to the 2nd repair patch verso). Some minor further spots of retouching in the sky, and areas of retouching to the lower left quadrant (see images). Overall in good condition and ready to hang.