London or Paris? The origin of Derain’s painting
Derain painted Waterloo Bridge on a linen canvas, the back of which displays the stamp of the prestigious London brand Winsor & Newton. Its discovery during the technical study raised a question: did the artist paint the work in London, or did he take the canvas back with him to Paris and paint it there?
Our hypothesis is that the painter may have purchased the ready-prepared Winsor & Newton canvas in London and taken it to Paris, where he painted it.
The fact that the edges of the canvas display ground and remains of paint and project several centimetres suggests that it was cut by hand and adapted to its frame.
In Paris Derain could have tacked the canvas to its stretcher, trimming the edges unevenly, and painted the landscape from memory, faithfully following the preliminary sketch.
