Marius Reynaud (1860-1935) Fisherman's Wife Ravaging The Nets

A touching and picturesque scene that this oil on canvas by the painter Marius Reynaud representing a fisherman's wife mending (repairing) her husband's nets. The work in excellent condition measures in its 19th century frame 52.5 cm by 43.5 cm and 40 cm by 30 cm without the frame. It is signed lower right. Some jumps of gilding on the frame which will be restored if necessary. Born in Marseille in 1860, REYNAUD was one of the most gifted students of the Ecole des Beaux Arts. In 1878, designated as one of the best to the great military painter DETAILLE, the young man was enlisted to participate in the realization of the great panorama of the “Siege of BELFORT”. The task was so considerable that six painters out of the ten chosen gave up very quickly. REYNAUD persisted while showing great enthusiasm and remarkable ability. His portrait appears in this so important work; the artists having successively used it as models. DETAILLE insisted on attaching REYNAUD to Paris, but the mists of the north inspired the emerging artist with a salutary dread. Rewarded in 1879 at the Marseille Exhibition, he came to do his military service in Algeria two years later and settled there. Become in a very Algerian record time, as much by the conquered sympathies as by his translations of the beauties of the coast, REYNAUD revealed himself as a great painter of the port of Algiers and particularly of the Admiralty whom he knew thoroughly. In a few years and a few very successful exhibitions, he placed himself at the level of the great masters like Maxime NOIRE and Eugène DESHAYES. To his academic culture, his impeccable science of drawing and his fine and delicate artistic sense, REYNAUD added a great power of work. A distinguished colorist, it was as a marine painter that he gave the full measure of his talent. As a teacher, this man of perfect conscience had Gilbert GALLAND as his most brilliant pupil; as for his bi-weekly lessons, given to the prince of exiled ANNAM: HAM-N'GHI (the wonderful child), they made him much more than an amateur. REYNAUD was the author of paintings to decorate the DEY pavilion in Algiers and the Chamber of Commerce. One of his canvases from the 1889 Salon, “Former Pirate Port of Algiers”, was purchased by the General Government. Another adorned the Hall of Honor of the Val de Grâce in Paris. Marius REYNAUD died in Algiers on December 11, 1935.