ON OFFER

MICHEL JEAN CAZABON 1813-1888

LA TOUR DE L'HORLOGE, VIRE, NORMANDY, FRANCE

OIL ON CANVAS

SIGNED LOWER LEFT "CAZABON" AND INDISTINCTLY DATED 4(?) (1846)

11 X 14.25 INCHES

Restored 2004 by Thierry Martel, Paris - restorer to the Louvre, Paris

PROVENANCE:

Bought/commissioned from the artist circa 1846 in Vire by Jacques and Eugene Pigeon, by direct descent via daughter Marthe Pigeon Chretien, thence daughter Marguerite Chretien Vaucelle, thence to son Gilles Vaucelle to Mark Pereira 2005.

Vire is a tiny village (present population 15,000) in Normandy. The "Clock Tower" is the most famous landmark and is still in existence. Vire is located just 40km from Luques and the beach at Calvados. We know that in 1847 Cazabon exhibited "Plage de Luques (Calvados)" and in 1847 he exhibited "Plage de Calvados" both in the Musee Royal in Paris. So he was in the area from 1846.

The Pigeon family either commissioned this work or bought it from the artist in Vire: this was most unusual for Cazabon as all his works exhibited at the Musée Royal from 1839 to 1847 were exhibited "not for sale". It seems that he was not hard up for cash and kept most of the works for himself or as all the Musée Royal catalogues state "Property of the painter". The last family owner, Gilles Vaucelle, says that it hung in his family home in Vire in the dining room "forever" and no one could remember how it was acquired. On the rear is written "Cazabon 1841", Mr Vaucelle remembers this being there all the time but does not know who wrote it.

Additionally, in 1843 Cazabon married Louise Rosalie Trolard. We have not discovered where they were married, but Trolard was and still is a typical Normandy surname. It is possible that she was from this area and that is why Cazabon kept visiting.

In France the artists of the 1840s had become bored with the emotionally charged paintings depicting pageantry, classical forms and exotic depictions. They became involved in depicting only the truth, the landscape in all its changing forms but most particularly the way different light affects the environment and capturing it on canvas. The most prominent artists of this period are Camille Corot (1796 - 1875) and Theodore Rousseau (1812 - 1865); the school of philosophy was known as the "Barbizon School". Cazabon would have seen these artists' works as they exhibited together at the Musée Royal; one imagines he knew and worked with them.

The present painting "La Tour de L'Horloge, Vire" deals with exactly this philosophy - the way the weak light affects the buildings and people; it depicts the simple village people going about their daily chores buying bread, driving a cart and the group of women in traditional dress.

Note particularly the placement of white in the painting to capture the light - on the traditional head-dresses of the women in the lower left, the man carrying the bread with the light coming around the building and highlighting the bread; and the woman walking away from the center in total darkness, yet we see at first glance only the white of her cap.

The contrast is total - note the almost ethereal quality of the horse drawn cart; this is not hidden without purpose, it throws the lit areas into stark contrast. It is almost a perfect academic painting.

We have catalogued about 15 French paintings by Cazabon - but only two have been located, of which this is one.