John Henry Twachtman Catalogue Raisonné
An online catalogue by Lisa N. Peters, Ph.D., in collaboration with the Greenwich Historical Society
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Catalogue Entry

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Keywords
OP.737
In France (Lombardy Poplars)
Alternate title: Lombardy Poplars
ca. 1885
Oil on canvas
18 x 10 3/4 in. (45.7 x 27.3 cm)
Signed lower right: J. H. Twachtman [above it part of a signature may be seen, perhaps laid on earlier]
Location unknown
Exhibitions
1889–I Fifth Avenue Art Galleries probably
Fifth Avenue Art Galleries, New York, Paintings in Oil and Pastel by J. Alden Weir and J. H. Twachtman, February 1–7, 1889, no. 50, as Lombardy Poplars, 20 1/2 x 17 3/4 in.
1968 Spanierman
Ira Spanierman, New York, John Henry Twachtman, 1853–1902: An Exhibition of Paintings and Pastels, February 3–24, 1968, no. 8, p. 7 ill. in b&w, as Lombardy Poplars.
Literature
Sun 1889–I
"Current Art Exhibitions." Sun (New York), February 4, 1889, p. 4, as Lombardy Poplars.
Sun 1889–II
"Weir and Twachtman Pictures." Sun (New York), February 8, 1889, p. 3, as Lombardy Poplars.
Hale 1957
Hale, John Douglass. "Life and Creative Development of John H. Twachtman." 2 vols. Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University, 1957. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms, 1958, vol. 1, p. 364 ill. in b/w (fig. 120); vol. 2, p. 584 (catalogue A, no. 481), as Lombardy Poplars. (Hale concordance).
Peters 1995
Peters, Lisa N. "John Twachtman (1853–1902) and the American Scene in the Late Nineteenth Century: The Frontier within the Terrain of the Familiar." 2 vols. Ph.D. dissertation, City University of New York, 1995. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms International, 1996, vol. 1, p. 210; vol. 2, p. 731 ill. in b/w (fig. 200), as In France (Lombardy Poplars).
Commentary

This painting was listed as Lombardy Poplars (measuring 20 1/2 x 17 3/4 inches) in the Twachtman–Weir sale, held February 7, 1889 at the Fifth Avenue Art Galleries. Covering the sale for the New York Sun, a critic described the painting as "extremely attractive in composition."[1] The same newspaper reported that it sold for $60.[2]  

Lombardy poplars are best known for their columnar shapes and unique branches that grow parallel to their trunks. Twachtman accentuated the verticality of the trees in his chosen format, depicting them towering over the distant hills, while the edges of a body of water, cropped in the foreground, echoes their curvilinear shapes.  

[1] New York Sun 1889-I.

[2] New York Sun 1889-II.