Paulin Bertrand (1852-1940) Seaside With Leaning Pines Of Carqueiranne,

Pure nature in all its splendor, created without trickery or pomp, with the finesse of the line, the know-how and the realism of the Toulon painter Paulin Bertrand, a great specialist of the seaside and rocks of the Var coast in the 19th century.
The work, cleaned and restored, is presented in a carved gilt wood frame measuring 57 cm by 74 cm and 38 cm by 55 cm for the canvas alone.
It represents pine trees and rocks by the sea, certainly in Carqueiranne, at the place called "Pins Penchés" where the artist used to hang out.
It is signed lower left.

Paulin Bertrand was a student at the Toulon high school and began his drawing apprenticeship with Pierre Decoreis.
Despite the reluctance of his father, Augustin Bertrand, who wanted to make his son an engineer, he continued to paint, particularly during his holidays, which he spent with his uncle in Carqueiranne.
In 1868, Paulin Bertrand contracted typhoid; his father then gave up on his ambitions and let him paint.
He entered the Toulouse School of Fine Arts and then became a student of Alexandre Cabanel at the Paris School of Fine Arts. He remained in the capital for about fifty years, but regularly visited Carqueiranne.
In July 1900, he married Julia Pillore, godmother of the painter Marcel Duchamp and art critic.
From 1866, he became friends with the poet Jean Aicard who became an academician in 1909.
Paulin Bertrand and his wife were hosted by their friend in La Garde in his villa Les Lauriers Roses which was bequeathed to them upon the academician's death in 1921.
Paulin Bertrand died on March 27, 1940 and was buried in the central cemetery of Toulon.
His wife bequeathed the villa and its various collections to the City of Toulon which opened the Jean Aicard-Paulin Bertrand Museum there.

Artistic career

Paulin Bertrand participated in the Salon des artistes français from 1880 to 1932. He first exhibited portraits and then landscapes.
He also participated in the universal exhibitions of London, Brussels, Sao Paolo, as well as national exhibitions in Paris and Marseille.
He received a 3rd class medal in 1889 for the Portrait of Augustin Daumas (deputy of Var and senator) and a 2nd class medal in 1890.
In 1891, he became official painter of the Navy.
He also produced several sculpted busts and engravings.

Distinctions

Paulin Bertrand was named Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honor in 1921.

Public collections

Angers, Museum of Fine Arts: In the Caux region
Digne-les-Bains, Gassendi Museum: Anse du Pradon.
Draguignan, Municipal Museum: Rue de La Garde. Morlaix,
Museum of Fine Arts: Carqueiranne Neuilly-sur-Seine,
Town Hall: Le Château des Ternes.
Toulon: Art Museum: The Leaning Pines at Carqueiranne; Neapolitan with a Basque Drum; Riverside, oil on canvas, 158 × 220 cm; Silver Beach at Porquerolles, oil on canvas, 115 × 146 cm; Seaside at Carqueiranne, oil on canvas, 40 × 65 cm; Landscape near La Garde, oil on canvas, 38 × 55 cm; The Seine at Rouen, oil on canvas, 55 × 81 cm Normandy Coast, oil on canvas, 50 × 73 cm; Cliff at Étretat, oil on canvas, 46 × 61 cm
Jean Aicard-Paulin Bertrand Museum.
National Maritime Museum: Arrival of the Russian squadron in Toulon on October 13, 1854.

Referenced private collections
Last rays of sun on the Colle Noire (Le Pradon, Carqueiranne), oil on canvas, 46 × 65 cm