Robert Dessales-quentin (1885-1958) Abbey Of Saint Pierre d'Uzerche Corrèze

Robert DESSALES-QUENTIN
(Brantôme 1885 - 1958)
Abbey Church of Saint Pierre d'Uzerche
Watercolor
H. 29 cm; L. 23.5 cm
Signed lower right

Provenance : Private collection, Périgueux

Robert Dessales-Quentin was born in one of the most beautiful villages in France: Brantôme, nicknamed the Venice of Périgord, since it is located on the banks of the Dronne, river which has become a natural defense by encircling the village. This small town in the north of Périgord was the playground throughout the artist's life. At the age of four, he completely lost his hearing as a result of a treatment unsuitable for his intolerance to quinine, then unknown. His father, a notary from Brantôme, decides to send him quickly to Paris where he will study at the National Institute for deaf-mutes. Conscious of his artistic tastes, his parents enrolled him in the Jullian Academy, in the studio of the famous Jean-Paul Laurens. Man of taste and terribly attached to his land. Dessales-Quentin will easily orient himself towards landscapes rather than towards history painting to which his studies predestined him. It is in Périgord that he will return quickly and find his way in the representation of the local heritage. Castles, beautiful residences, churches or views of cities will be presented from 1909 at the Salon des Artistes Français in Paris. It is in watercolor that he will be most comfortable, even obtaining in 1928 a Great Honorable Mention at the Salon, a rare occurrence for this medium. In oil he will have several different periods and styles, in particular a period that we could call "wisteria", due to the recurring presence of this plant between the two wars in his paintings. Drawing teacher for more than fifteen years in the great Institution Saint-Joseph de Périgueux, and in his studio in the rue du Plantier, he was named by his students the "brilliant left-handed". It is also within this workshop that Dessales-Quentin welcomed the "all-Périgord" every year for an exhibition of his highly anticipated works. Used to old Périgord stones, he will not forsake "elsewhere". The Corrèze will be a land of recurring passage, but also the Basque Country, French and Spanish. He will exhibit in many French cities his works, traces of which we find very regularly through the well-known labels on the back of the watercolors and their original framing.

If we are in Corrèze a few kilometers from Haute-Vienne, we do not leave a river that is dear to us: the Vézère. It is this famous watercourse that is considered to be Périgord, which passes at the foot of "the pearl of Limousin", the name given to Uzerche by the English globetrotter writer at the start of the 19th century: Arthur Young. This city is considered in Corrèze as one of the most important for its history of road junction, often destroyed boxwood rebuilt following the barbarian invasions, Norman, or even during the Franco-English conflicts.

Saint Peter's Church, the main place of worship in the city, is in fact an abbey church resulting from the old Benedictine monastery which stood around it at the end of the first millennium. Even older traces have been found during recent excavations, but the visible parts are from the 11th to the end of the 19th century. The bell tower that Dessales-Quentin particularly highlights is of a totally Cluniac composition and of the 12th century. The upper part was altered several times like the rest of the building, following barbarian attacks and lightning. The abbey church was classified as of 1840 as a Historic Monument.