F.-j. Nolau. Animated View Of Saint-étienne Cathedral And The Roches District In Metz.

Watercolor and gouache highlights over black pencil lines, on paper mounted on thick paper. 22.3 x 18.6 cm, in a 39 x 34.5 cm frame. Good overall condition, tiny losses in the upper right corner and in the lower left corner and four small brown pinholes in the sky on the left. Signed lower left: "NOLAU ARCHIte". A student at the École des Beaux-arts in Paris, François-Joseph Nolau (1804-1883) won the Second Prix de Rome for architecture in 1832. He worked with his father-in-law, the famous theater painter and decorator Pierre-Luc-Charles Ciceri. In 1850, he was appointed chief decorator of the Opéra-Comique. Nolau is the author of numerous watercolors representing views of Paris and Rome, including one that was exhibited during his only participation in the Salon in 1846. In addition to its artistic qualities testifying to Nolau's work as a decorator, the drawing presented, executed from the banks of the Moselle, constitutes a precious testimony to the Roches district of Metz in the 19th century, before the destruction of the 1960s and the development of the Moselle quays. The Cour d'Or museum in Metz holds a painting by Pierre-Louis Renaud, known as Salzard, representing a similar view dated 1832 (Les Roches à Metz, vue du Sas, oil on paper mounted on canvas).