Charles Donzel (1824-1889) The Pond Drain 1884. School Of Crozant, Limousin, Corot, Alluaud

New work by Charles Donzel representing a pond drain near a forest in 1884, signed and dated lower left + countersigned on the back of the canvas. Size of the painting alone without frame 30x20.5cm and 39.5x30cm including frame This is therefore a superb 19th century composition by Charles Donzel who paints here the edges of a pond in 1884, most likely in Limousin, Creuse or Haute-Vienne, the 2 regions where he painted the most at this time. We immediately recognize the very subtle touch of Charles Donzel, he uses glaze painting, surely due to the fact that he was above all a very great watercolorist. Even if Donzel is a precursor of the Crozant school, we also think of the Barbizon school as well as Camille Corot his friend when observing his paintings. Born in Besançon, he successively entered the conservatory, the Besançon drawing school and then the studio of the master sculptor Clésinger; his mother, however, seemed more in favour of music. After a promising start in the theatre, he began a career as a violinist and became a laureate at the Paris Conservatory of Music in 1855. His life as a musician continued throughout France and Belgium alongside his wife, a singer. However, when his wife died, Charles Donzel decided to retire from the world of theatre and music: he retrained in drawing and painting, areas in which he was probably initiated when he was younger, but as an amateur, without ever really having had a master. Very quickly, he made a place for himself within the school of 1830 and opened a Parisian studio on rue des Martyrs. Charles Donzel then travelled a lot, between Béarn, Normandy and Auvergne, and took part in his first exhibition in 1855. Four years later, it was at the Paris Salon that the artist sent his first works, including views of Haute-Vienne. It was the Limousin critic Camille Leymarie who gave us one of the first artistic anecdotes concerning the artist. A little-known part of Charles Donzel's life took him to Bordeaux where he met Adrien Dubouché with whom he became friends. It was the latter who introduced him to Limousin society and its artists. This is how he "became a Limousin by right of hospitality" as Albert Guillemot points out. From this meeting onwards, Charles Donzel seemed to devote himself fully to the sites of Limousin. He took part in the Society of Friends of the Arts of Limousin, chaired by Adrien Dubouché. The artist was hailed by critics. From then on, Charles Donzel seemed to sell his paintings quite easily to amateurs in the region. And later, still in contact with Adrien Dubouché, he embarked on a new adventure: that of painting on porcelain, notably for the Pouyat and Ardant houses. But Charles Donzel was also a decorative painter. He began with the decoration of the prefecture of Mâcon, before creating one of his most beautiful works: the decoration of the living room of his friend Adrien Dubouché. He thus set about the composition of five panels, painted in the style of Camille Corot, of whom he was both a friend and an admirer. He will also be one of the unifying artists of the Crozant school, it is even said that he will be the first to use the term "Crozant School" ... in Creuse as in Haute-Vienne he will produce superb compositions some of which are today in museums, such as in Limoges, Guêret, from Luxembourg to Paris, Tulle etc .... He died on March 20, 1889 and, on September 9, 1892, the approximately 120 paintings and watercolors from his studio on rue des Martyrs were sold at auction. This painting is in perfect condition, delivered in a modern gilded frame. Work guaranteed authentic