Robert Dessales-quentin (1885-1958) Castle Of Turenne Corrèze

Robert DESSALES-QUENTIN
(Brantôme 1885 - 1958)
La Tour César à Turenne
Watercolor
H. 50 cm; L. 41 cm
Signed, located, dated 1932
Provenance: Private collection, Périgord

Robert Dessales-Quentin was born in one of the most beautiful villages in France: Brantôme, nicknamed the Venice of Périgord, since it is located on the banks of the Dronne, a river which became a natural defense by encircling the village. This small town in the north of Périgord was the playground throughout the artist's life. At the age of four, he completely lost his hearing as a result of treatment that was unsuitable for his intolerance to quinine, which was then unknown. His father, a notary in Brantôme, decides to send him quickly to Paris where he will follow his studies at the National Institute for the Deaf-Mute. Aware of his artistic tastes, his parents enrolled him at the Jullian Academy, in the studio of the famous Jean-Paul Laurens. A man of taste and terribly attached to his terroir. Dessales-Quentin will easily orient himself towards landscapes rather than the history painting to which his studies predestined him. It is in Périgord that he will return quickly and find his way in the representation of local heritage. Castles, beautiful residences, churches or views of cities will be presented from 1909 at the Salon of French Artists in Paris. It is with watercolors that he will be most at ease, even obtaining in 1928 a Great Honorable Mention at the Salon, a rare occurrence for this medium. In oil it will have several different periods and styles, in particular a period which one could call "wisteria", due to the recurrent presence of this plant between the two wars in his paintings. Professor of drawing for more than fifteen years within the great Institution Saint-Joseph de Périgueux, and in his workshop on rue du Plantier, he was named by his students the "brilliant left-hander". It is in this workshop that Dessales-Quentin welcomed the "all-Périgord" each year for an exhibition of his highly anticipated works. Used to old Périgord stones, he did not neglect "elsewhere". Corrèze will be a land of recurring passage, but also the Basque Country, French as Spanish. He will exhibit his works in many French cities, traces of which we find very regularly through the well-known labels on the back of the watercolors and their original frame.

Fortified town famous throughout France by the name of the Grand Marshal of Turenne, comrade-in-arms of Henri IV, this fortified city is one of the best known villages in the department of Corrèze. This view from the heights of the fortress shows us the César tower located to the north of the promontory, as well as some buildings which it overlooks. This large watercolor is a sheet of very good quality and precision.