Raphaël Ponson (1835-1904) The Docks In Marseille

The intensity and magnificent light of a post-storm sky illuminating the merchant port districts of Marseille and the famous Docks.
The work is presented in a sculpted frame measuring 48 cm by 72 cm and 38 cm by 61 cm for the canvas alone.
It depicts tugboats and ships at the Quay in the Bassin de La Joliette in Marseille, a major center of port and maritime activity in the 19th century, with sailors aboard a tender in the foreground.
As usual, the artist mounted his canvas himself on another canvas and mounted it on a countersigned and located stretcher.
The work is signed lower left.

Renowned for his landscapes of the Provençal coast, Raphaël Ponson is the son of a theater designer who taught him the basics of painting.
He then attended the practical drawing school in Marseille, where he was a student of Émile Loubon, who taught him to paint landscapes in keeping with the local tone.
He went to Paris in 1855 and 1856, then to Italy where he completed his training. He then settled permanently in Marseille. He made his debut at the Marseille Salon in 1852 and at the Paris Salon in 1861 with La Châtaigneraie aux environs de Chevreuse and Le Château d'If dans la rade de Marseille.
Works In 1863, he decorated the gallery of the private apartments of the new prefecture of Marseille. For the decoration of the rooms on the first floor of the Natural History Museum at the Palais Longchamp, Henri-Jacques Espérandieu called upon Raphaël Ponson, whose flexible and brilliant talent would be perfectly suited to the execution of this work, according to the architect's comments when presenting the letter of submission to the municipal council.
In 1867, he decorated the three rooms on the first floor, where he painted spectacular natural sites: Niagara Falls, the Mer de Glace, the Amazon rainforest, and the basalt caves of Fingal in one of the Hebrides.
The most famous room is the Provence room, where Ponson depicts different landscapes for each of the small regions of Provence: cork oaks, chestnut trees, and strawberry trees for the Var, olive trees and oleanders for the Bouches-du-Rhône, and mulberry trees, almond trees, and melons for the Vaucluse. He also decorated the Rigaud café and the Plauchut pastry shop at the top of the Canebière in Marseille.
He specialized in depicting the beaches, coves, and seashores around Marseille.
To distinguish himself from his younger brother, Étienne Aimé Ponson, a still life painter, he added his first name to his surname. Present in numerous regional exhibitions, he received several awards.

Works in public collections
Aix-en-Provence, Granet Museum: Gulf of Bandol. Avignon,
Calvet Museum: The Anse de la Couronne near Martigues.
Béziers, Museum of Fine Arts: Calanque de Port Pin near Cassis; Evening in the Gulf of Bandol.
Carcassonne, Museum of Fine Arts: Seaside in Bandol.
Cassis, Mediterranean Municipal Museum: Italian Brick in the Port of Cassis.
Digne-les-Bains, Gassendi Museum: The Calanque de Sormiou.
Dijon, Museum of Fine Arts: The Château d'If: Morning Effect.
Hyères: Coastline in Hyères.
The Rue de la République, Marseille, Prefecture of the Bouches-du-Rhône.
Marseille: Museum of Fine Arts: Morning in Sausset; Sormiou Coasts; Seascape.
Maritime Museum: Coal ships in the national basin, 1890.
Prefecture of Bouches-du-Rhône, private apartments: four circular paintings, commissioned on May 23, 1866 by the prefect Charlemagne de Maupas to decorate a gallery in his apartments, depicting districts of Marseille: The Palais Longchamp; The Rue de la République; Borély Park; The Pharo.
Narbonne, Museum of Art and History: View of Endoume; Seagulls' nest at the cove of Port-Miou.
Toulon, Art Museum: Undergrowth at Sainte-Marguerite.
Tours, Museum of Fine Arts: Rocks at Cassis.