Picnic scenes became an increasingly popular genre subject in American painting during the nineteenth century. Though Frederick Rondel, born and trained in Paris, is known most often as a landscapist, it is his genre scenes set within rustic landscapes such as The Picnic, which recall the era's genteel charm.
By 1855, Rondel was living in Boston, where he was a lithographer and painter. He moved to New York City in late 1859 and, in 1861, became a member of the National Academy of Design. In 1862 Rondel accepted a commission from Matthew Vassar to paint documentary pictures of Vassar's homes. He moved to Poughkeepsie the following year, probably to finish this commission. In 1868 he returned to New York City and, except for trips in 1862 to Europe, and in 1875 to San Francisco, Rondel stayed in the East, painting mostly landscape scenes of the Hudson River Valley and the Adirondack Mountains.
It was while Rondel was in Poughkeepsie that Henry S. Frost (1796-1879), a Poughkeepsie businessman, commissioned the artist to paint The Picnic. Although the location depicted is yet unknown, it is most likely a clearing in the woods near Poughkeepsie, and, from the hint of orange in the foliage, the season is early autumn. The presence of the seated soldier and the cavalry man in Union uniforms, the celebratory mood of the scene, and the costume fashions of the other figures date the work rather firmly between 1864-66. Within these years, however, the work could have vastly different interpretations. If painted earlier, it could be a celebratory interlude for the family during a period of heightened warfare and tension or, if painted later, a celebration of relief, the future secure. Although Frost's son, William, was of the age to have been in the Civil War, it is unknown whether he actually served or if this painting commemorates such a service since the exact purpose of the commission is unknown.
While The Picnic was never exhibited by Rondel, it is among his best genres scenes, quite similar to his A Hunting Party in the Woods, In the Adirondack, NY State [sic] (1857, The Adirondack Museum, Blue Mountain Lake, N.Y.), which was probably also done as a commission. Both works are characteristically serene, but with complex composition and action. The lush, verdant landscape is clear evidence of Rondel's training under the French romantic landscape artists, Auguste Jugelet and Theodore Gudin. Rather than merely a backdrop to showcase the figures, the landscape is a permeable environment within which the figures are busily engaged in an activity at hand. In The Picnic, one servant carves away at a ham while another brings refreshments, children sneak tidbits as energetically as they unpack, and a couple intently engage in an amorous tfte-A-t6te. Rondel has included himself leaning against a tree, serenely observing the families activities; a part of the scene, yet not active in it. In both paintings a group enjoys the landscape, free from the demands and constraints of urban life. In the Adirondack work, it is sportsmen who take their ease after a day of hunting or fishing. In The Picnic, it is a family who enjoy the days celebration, readying a meal possibly after partaking of the activity on the large and still crowded dance floor in the background. The Picnic is clearly a work of celebration. Though its narrative is one of a dance, it is also one of life-squirmy children, starry-eyed couples, and a bountiful land of prosperity.
M. MELISSA WOLFE
