Louis Amable Crapelet Logo, The Surroundings Of Gabès (tunisia), Brown Ink, Ink Wash

Louis Amable CRAPELET
(Auxerre 1822 - 1867 Versailles)
The surroundings of Gabès (Tunisia)
brown ink, ink wash and watercolour on paper
25 x 35 cm (view) ; 44 x 45 cm (framed)
fine proof on japon paper
titled 'Les environs de Gabès' and signed 'Am. Crapelet' lower left
small stains visible on the photograph

Selected bibliography:
Bénézit, Paris, Ernest Gründ Editeur
Marseille, Revue municipale illustrée, no 136, 2nd quarter 1984.
Maurice Chaumelin, La tribune artistique et littéraire du midi, 1861, p. 188.

Notable museums:
Musée d'Orsay, Paris
Louvre Museum, Paris
Quai Branly Jacques Chirac Museum, Paris

Find out more :
The son of a miniature artist, he first learnt architectural drawing before becoming a pupil of Durand-Brager, Séchan and finally Corot.

From 1846 to 1866, he exhibited views of Egypt, Provence and Italy at the Paris Salon. At the same time, he sent works to the Salon des refusés.
A keen traveller, in 1852 he set off for Africa, where he spent time in Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt, from where he sailed up the Nile in search of its source. He returned to France via the Levant, Turkey, Greece and Italy, where he would return a few years later in the company of Alexandre Dumas. The many sketches he brought back from his travels enabled him to develop his compositions.

On his return to France, he settled in Marseille and, like Monticelli, worked in the studio of Camoine le Jeune. Crapelet was commissioned to paint sets for theatres, public buildings such as the Marseilles Opera House, and to decorate villas, cafés and even private ships.
Often referred to as an Orientalist painter, the public particularly appreciated his mastery of light. Dense and golden, it is sometimes reminiscent of Fromentin (see Revue municipale illustrée, no 136, 2nd quarter, Marseille, 1984). "His nimble, witty brush barely scratches the paper, scattering here and there touches that, while not always perfectly accurate, nevertheless give the objects the desired shape and colour. A few adroit highlights of gouache