Defer Jules (1803-1902) “view Of Nice From Baumettes” Menton Provence Villefranche Sur Mer Eze

DEFER Jules (1803-1902)

“View of Nice from Baumettes”

Oil on paper lined on canvas,
Monogrammed lower right,

Beautiful and luminous work by the Nice painter Jules Defer which represents a view of Nice from the heights of the city and more precisely from the Baumettes district.
The Baumettes district, also called "Little Paris", located to the west of the city of Nice and a few minutes from the Promenade des Anglais, was in the 19th century a place for weekend walks and relaxation for the people of Nice.
We can see in the foreground, under the finely crafted cypress trees and surrounded by Mediterranean vegetation, a young man dressed in traditional Nice costume resting.
The second shot offers us a general view of the city of Nice and in the distance the Tower of La Maison de l'Anglais ("Château de Mont-Boron").

A student of the famous landscape painter Jean-Victor Bertin, Jules Defer entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1824.
From 1829, he entered the Grand Prix de Rome competition in the “Historical Landscape” section.
He settled on the French Riviera shortly after the annexation of Savoy and the County of Nice (1860), first to Monaco, then to Nice around 1863. He devoted his entire life to producing paintings brushed on the motif in the Nice region, generally small formats, borrowing a beautiful sensitivity and highly sought after by collectors.
Through his precise gesture and his palette of colors, the painter Jules Defer succeeds in depicting with precision and in the moment the Mediterranean vegetation, its atmosphere and its play of light.

We can compare our work with another painting by the artist Jules Defer which represents this same place "Nice des Baumettes" and which is reproduced in the work "The Country of Nice and its Painters in the 19th century" Ed Academia Nissarda.
Also reproduced on the website “The Country of Nice and its Painters in the 19th century” in the biography of the painter Jules Defer.

This work is a beautiful testimony to the end of the 19th century in the city of Nice.

Nb: Old restorations, without impact on the perimeter of the drawing: at the top and at the top right, should be noted.

Dimensions: 34 x 25 cm without its frame and 47 x 39 cm with its modern gilded wood frame.

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