Henri Stenn (1903-1993), The Luxembourg Garden, Paris, Signed Oil on Canvas, 1960s, Framed

A group of Parisians is gathered under the trees of the Luxembourg Garden. On the left a couple sits close together on the grass, the woman in pale blue turning toward her companion, and two small children play at the lower edge. At the centre a woman in pink leans over a blue pram where a baby sits upright, and beside her two women in straw hats stand talking. On the right a man in a yellow jacket has taken one of the garden chairs, a small boy standing at his knee. Behind them the foliage rises in dense strokes of green and teal, broken by touches of pink and gold where the light comes through. The paint is thick and worked with a loaded brush, and the figures are set down in a few strokes each, caught rather than posed.

Henri Stenn (1903-1993) was a French painter who worked in an Impressionist manner through the twentieth century. His subjects were Parisian parks, gardens and street views, handled with loose brushwork and a luminous palette that placed atmosphere before architectural detail. The Luxembourg Garden, in the sixth arrondissement, has been painted by generations of artists since the Impressionists, and its combination of formal design, mature trees and changing light has never stopped attracting them. Stenn's works have appeared at auction in France.

The painting is signed at the lower left and titled "Le Jardin du Luxembourg" on the reverse of the canvas, which confirms both subject and hand. It carries an old restoration, visible in the photographs, and the frame shows small gaps.