Fox Chase
Alphonse Jongers
- Museum Hours: Tuesday through Sunday, 10am to 5pm. Café Flo is closed for the season.
In The Fox Chase, Jongers is shown with full beard, thick necked and muscular, fully invested in the chase.
Out of his pocket pokes a piece of paper with the phrase Adieu la France (or “good-bye France”), reflecting his relatively new expatriate status.
Alphonse Jongers
Born November 17, 1872, Mézières, France
Died October 2, 1945, Montreal, Canada
In Old Lyme, 1900-1904
The Canadian portrait artist Alphonse Jongers assured his place in American art history when he painted a portrait of Miss Florence, the self-described “keeper” of the Lyme Art Colony, behind her golden harp in 1903. Titled The Harpist, Jongers painted Miss Florence as a gracious, cultured, dreamy-eyed muse to the artists, a portrait of a lady that has become an icon of the Museum’s collection.
Born in France, Alphonse studied art in Paris, Madrid, and England before making his way to French Canada to set up a studio, first in Montreal, and after a few years, in New York. He most likely met Henry Ward Ranger in Montreal. Jongers was among the small group of artists to follow Ranger out into the Connecticut countryside in 1900.
Jongers began the portrait of Miss Florence during his third summer at the boardinghouse
He brought the painting and the harp back to his New York studio to finish it. Unfortunately, the harp was badly damaged during its return to Old Lyme and has remained in disrepair ever since.
Alphonse Jongers (1872-1945)
The Harpist, 1903
Oil on canvas
Gift of the Lyme Art Association