Louis Nattero (1870-1915) Caïque In The Bosphorus - The Golden Horn

Istanbul and the Bosphorus, the oriental subjects that inspired all the great Provençal artists of the 19th century. Louis Nattéro, the specialist in Provençal seascapes is no exception to the rule and produces here a beautiful and luminous oil on canvas offered in a beautiful 19th century frame which measures 101 cm by 121.5 cm and 69 cm by 92 cm for the canvas alone. The work represents a boat (caique) with several characters on board in the Bosphorus Strait, in the distance, we can see Saint Sophia. An imposing work, in good condition, signed lower right. Louis Alexandre Marie Nattero was born on October 16, 1870 in Marseille, 1 rue du Pharo, from the second marriage of Dominique Nattero with Jeanne Joussaume. Quickly, his parents separated in 1872 and, in 1880, Louis was placed in an orphanage. Passionate about drawing, he produced his first works around the age of 11: portraits that he managed to sell in order to survive. After an unhappy childhood, he turned to painting. In 1891, in Toulon, he married Lucie Durbec, with whom he had nine children. His son, Joseph Nattero, born in Marseilles in 1904, will follow in his father's footsteps and paint all his life. At the age of 26, from October 1896 to April 1897, thanks to a scholarship from the city of Toulon, he attended the National School of Fine Arts in Paris for a few months, where he was a pupil of Léon Bonnat. However, he suffers from lead poisoning and must, with regret, stop his studies in Paris. He then returned to Toulon, then settled permanently in Marseille, his hometown, in 1904. He also stayed in Aix-en-Provence. His talent was quickly recognized and his paintings were very successful from 1905. He took part in most of the salons in the Marseille and Toulon region and worked relentlessly to support his large family. In Toulon, he exhibited, among others, at the framer Lacqua (31 rue d'Alger) and at the Albano gallery (rue des Trois Dauphins). He was present, in 1902, at the exhibition of the Friends of the Arts of Toulon and won several prizes there. In Marseille, his studio is located on boulevard de la Corderie and his works appear regularly at the Vallet gallery, rue Paradis. He exhibited at the Salon de l'Association des Étudiants and at the Grand Cercle Républicain in 1905. In 1914, war broke out and three of his sons left for the front. His painting no longer sells. A deep despair overcomes him. On November 10, 1915, at his home, 42 bd Joachim in Marseille, he ended his life by shooting himself under the eyes of his son Joseph. After a ceremony at the church of Bonneveine, he is buried in the common grave in the cemetery of Mazargues. The day after his death, the Petit Marseillais launched a collection to help his widow and children. In the Pointe Rouge district, the town hall of Marseille gives its name to a roundabout. In 2004, the museum of Old Toulon, organized an exhibition: “Louis Nattero (1870-1915) – Victor Senchet (1879-1973), painters”. The sea Fishing boats Louis Nattero is above all a painter of the Mediterranean. It is for him the real subject of expression when he paints the poetry of a twilight, the sleeping wave of the creeks, the fishermen hauling up their nets in an almost hushed calm. He is not the painter of tumult. In his work, the characters are rare, often distant: a sailor drinking from a feast, a boat on the horizon, fishermen mending their nets, walkers on a quay. Like a photographer, he captures his subjects in everyday life and freely interprets them. Largely influenced by the Impressionists, Nattero made light the essential element of his painting. “The vibrating note, such is indeed the goal that Nattero wants to achieve: to this, he is not afraid to sacrifice the precise line. It admirably gives the impression of a teeming crowd on our sunny quays, in our picturesque old streets by skilfully applied impastos. —Marseille Student, May 1905 He knows perfectly the secret of pure colors and it is with precision that he places a touch of red on a fisherman's cap or a touch of white on the rebound of a wave. His palette evolves in shades of blue, mauve, pink, pearly shades, warm ocher on the twilight; the crashing waves changing from metallic emerald to the clearest, milkiest green ashes. He forgets black. Works La Patache in the port of Toulon, oil on canvas, 46 × 61 cm, 1902-1905, Toulon Art Museum.