Grésivaudan Valley By Abbot Calès Montagne

View of the Grésivaudan valley painted with a knife in oil paint on cardboard by Abbot Cales (1870-1961). The painting is signed lower right with the shaft of the brush in the fresh paint. It is framed in a painted frame which has some accidents. In the absence of this frame, it measures 24x79.5 cm. Painter and priest of Tencin, friend of the painters Jules Flandrin and Henriette Deloras, Pierre Calès occupies a special place in the artistic landscape of Dauphiné. It was at the age of 20 that he joined the minor seminary of Rondeau in Grenoble where he received advice from the Abbot and painter Laurent Guétal. In 1902, at the age of 32, he was appointed abbot of the commune of Tencin. He remained abbot of the parish until the end of his life. He quickly became known for his painting but also for his eccentricity: measuring almost 2 meters tall and often being surrounded by animals like his crocodile. His works are preserved in various museums: Musée de Grenoble, Musée Dauphinois.