Large Oil On Canvas - Countryside Landscape (1904) - Jules Alfred Hervé-mathé (1868-1953)

Rare: large format depicting a countryside landscape (certainly in Sarthe) signed lower right Jules Alfred Hervé-Mathé and dated 1904. This painting was exhibited at the Abbaye de l'Épau in 1989, during a retrospective exhibition dedicated to the artist. Dimensions with frame: 117x90cm. Dimensions when visible: 100x73.5cm. Note: a stretcher mark is visible in the center of the painting (see photos). Jules Alfred Hervé-Mathé is a French painter, born in 1868 in Saint-Calais-du-Désert and died in 1953 in Mayenne. He was director of the School of Applied Arts in Le Mans. Jules Hervé-Mathé is the son of Léon Florent Hervé and Marie Luquet, married in Couptrain in 1856. He married Berthe Marie Mathé on June 15, 1905 in Le Mans. He lost his father in 1881. His mother then decided to return to the paternal home with her three children in Langres. Jules Alfred Hervé continued his schooling there and attended the drawing school, which was of excellent renown. He was a student of Jean-Paul Leurens, Benjamin-Constant, Marcel Baschet and Albert Maignan. To finance his courses, he drew the fortifications of Langres for the Military Engineers. He was a member of the Salon des Artistes Français in Paris from 1909. He directed the School of Applied Art in Le Mans from 1899, and this for 35 years. He lived in Vieux-Mans (now Cité Plantagenêt) in the Hôtel de Vaux, with his wife Berthe Mathé (whose name he would take to sign his works). He painted a lot, everywhere: the aeronautical exploits of the brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright (the portrait of the former is in the Washington Museum). He also focused on the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 1914, he was mobilized as a draftsman on the front, he drew numerous war scenes under shelling (preserved in Paris at the Army Museum). After the First World War, he intensified his production of landscapes and seascapes. He fell in love with the Breton coast, producing seascapes, portraits of fishermen, showing the bustle of the ports of Cornouaille, painting with a balanced palette. He stayed in 1920 on the Ile-de-Bréhat. In 1922, he stayed in Perros-Guirec and Ploumanac'h, and he traveled to Brittany every year. From 1925, he spent four years in Concarneau. In 1927, he painted the life of fishermen in Audierne. In 1930, he stayed in Douarnenez and Tréboul, then in Camaret the following year. He was unable to return to Brittany due to the Second World War. His work came back into fashion during three major sales conducted by Maître Bailleul in Bayeux in the late 1980s.