Raphaël Ponson (1835-1904) Schooners In The Old Port Of Marseille

A schooner docked in a corner of the Old Port, near the Bassin du Carénage, in the background the bell tower of Accoules, one of the most sought-after subjects by fans of Provençal painters. Bistre colors that smell of the tar with which ships were caulked , the passion of broad brush strokes which add intensity and give this work a power which wonderfully restores the atmosphere which floated in this working-class district at that time. The work in good condition is produced as very often by this artist in oil on a canvas mounted on cardboard, it is framed in an elegant gilded frame with channels from the 19th century which measures 45 cm by 45 cm and 26.5 cm by 26.5 cm for painting alone. It is signed lower left and countersigned on the back. Difficult to take photos because of the shine of the varnish and the pigments used by the artist, the work is much more beautiful in reality.

Renowned for his landscapes of the Provençal coast, Raphaël Ponson is the son of a theater decorator who taught him the basics of painting. Then he took classes at the practical drawing school in Marseille where he was a student of Émile Loubon, who taught him to paint landscapes while respecting the local tone. He went to Paris in 1855 and 1856, then to Italy where he completed his training. He then settled permanently in Marseille. He began at the Marseille Salon in 1852, and at the Paris Salon in 1861 with La Châtaigneraie near Chevreuse and Le Château d'If in Marseille harbor. Works In 1863, he decorated the gallery of private apartments of the new prefecture of Marseille. For the decoration of the rooms on the first floor of the Natural History Museum of the Palais Longchamp, Henri-Jacques Espérandieu called on Raphaël Ponson whose flexible and brilliant talent would be perfectly suited to the execution of this work according to the architect's remarks during of the presentation of the letter of submission to the municipal council. In 1867, he decorated the three rooms on the first floor where he painted the spectacular natural sites: Niagara Falls, the Sea of Ice, the Amazon rainforest and the basalt caves of Fingal in one of the Hebrides Islands. The most famous room is that of Provence, where Ponson represents different landscapes for each of the small regions of Provence: cork oaks, chestnut trees and arbutus trees for the Var, olive trees and oleanders for Bouches-du-Rhône, and mulberry trees, almond trees and melons for Vaucluse2. He also decorates the Rigaud3 café and the Plauchut patisserie at the top of the Canebière in Marseille. He specializes in the representation of beaches, coves and sea shores around Marseille. To distinguish himself from his younger brother, Étienne Aimé Ponson, still life painter, he added his first name to his surname. Present in numerous regional exhibitions, he obtained several awards. Works in public collections Aix-en-Provence, Granet museum: Gulf of Bandol. Avignon, Calvet museum: L'Anse de la Couronne near Martigues. Béziers, Museum of Fine Arts: Calanque de Port Pin near Cassis; Evening at the Gulf of Bandol. Carcassonne, Museum of Fine Arts: Seaside in Bandol. Cassis, Mediterranean municipal museum: Italian brick in the port of Cassis. Digne-les-Bains, Gassendi museum: The Calanque de Sormiou. Dijon, Museum of Fine Arts: The Château d'If: morning effect5. Hyères: Coastline in Hyères. Rue de la République, Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône prefecture hotel. Marseille: Museum of Fine Arts: Morning in Sausset; Cotes de Sormiou; Marine. maritime museum: Coal ships in the national basin, 1890. Bouches-du-Rhône prefecture hotel, private apartments: four circular paintings, commissioned on May 23, 1866 by the prefect Charlemagne de Maupas to decorate a gallery of his apartments, representative of the districts of Marseille: Le Palais Longchamp; Republic Street; Borély Park; The Pharo. Narbonne, Museum of Art and History: View of Endoume; Gull nest at the Port-Miou cove. Toulon, Art Museum: Undergrowth in Sainte-Marguerite. Tours, Museum of Fine Arts: Rocks in Cassis.