Paul Bistagne (1850-1886) Characters On The Quay

The intimate atmosphere and warm morning light on the quay of a northern port by the 19th century Provençal artist Paul Bistagne. The work is presented in a sober modern frame which measures 71 cm by 98 cm and 62 cm by 88.5 cm for the canvas alone. It represents a sailor walking on the quay and in the background characters chatting. Pending a light cleaning (but not mandatory) the work is in good condition, it is signed and dated (18)78 lower left. Marine painter, admirer of Ziem, too little known artist who worked with François Barry. He entered the Beaux Arts in Marseille at the age of 18, there he met Barry whom he found in Paris where he was an official character of the Second Empire, official painter of the Navy. Did Bistagne take part in Barry's last oriental cruises?? We don't know. Bistagne is in any case documented by the catalog of the Salon of 1875 and a painting of 1878 "Le Port Oriental". Returning to Marseilles at an uncertain date, he moved into a studio where he painted Provençal seascapes, a few landscapes, views of Venice and the Bosphorus, which he brought to life with characters. His know-how is then closer to Félix Ziem than to that of François Barry. His young death does not allow us to speculate on what his maturity would have been, because we can only observe a few works. A "post mortem" consecration came to him with the Colonial Exhibition of 1906 where he was exhibited. At the Museum of Toulon "Boats on land and fishermen (1885).