Ernest Hareux (1847-1909) The Echo Rock At Crosant ~1900. Creuse, Grenoble, Detroy, Alluaud

A sublime new oil on canvas by Ernest Hareux depicting the Echo Rock in Crozant, circa 1895/1900, signed lower left. The canvas measures 50x65cm unframed and 76x92cm framed. This is indeed a magnificent composition by Ernest Hareux, who here paints the Creuse Valley around 1895/1900, more precisely the famous Echo Rock, so often painted by Guillaumin and Alluaud, among others. As is his custom, Hareux pays particular attention to his composition with his very delicate touch and perfectly captures the light so specific to the Creuse region, notably through his subtle palette where ochres, oranges, and pinks mingle with greens, browns... and finally, a superb blue for his sky. Although Hareux regularly painted the Creuse region, this type of composition is still quite uncommon, as his mountain views around Grenoble are far more numerous in his work. Ernest Hareux is a key painter of both schools, the Crozant school and the Dauphiné mountain painters, since Crozant and Grenoble were his two home bases; as a side note, it was Léon Detroy who bought his studio in Crozant, now owned by the painter Laberthonnière. Ernest Victor Hareux, born on February 20, 1847, in Paris and died on February 16, 1909, in Grenoble, was a French landscape painter. He was already drawing at the age of 10. He admired Alexandre Calame and Gustave Doré. He studied in Paris under Charles Busson, Émile Bin, Léon Germain Pelouse, Trottin, and Levasseur. He presented his first work at the Salon of 1868 and won a third-class medal at the Salon of 1880. He specialized in landscape painting and became a member of the Société des Artistes Français in 1883. He painted in Normandy and the Creuse region, where he joined the Crozant School and met Laurent Guétal, who invited him to Grenoble in 1887. Bad weather, which prevented him from painting, seemed to discourage him, but he returned the following year. He eventually became a mountain painter, a friend of Théodore Ravanat and the other painters of the Proveysieux School. He thus became part of the Dauphiné School, which also included Charles Bertier, Jean Achard, and others. They were sometimes called Dauphiné landscape painters. He published seven seminal treatises on painting (Complete Course in Oil Painting, Art, Science, The Painter's Craft, etc.). He illustrated books about mountaineering. Hareux is best known for his mountain paintings. A founding member of the Society of Mountain Painters, he saw in Alpine landscapes a very imposing decorative power that lends itself admirably to theatrical or panoramic paintings. He was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour on October 11, 1906. He was elected on March 1, 1907, to seat 48 of the Académie Delphinale. His works can be seen in numerous museums in France. This canvas is in very good condition for its age of approximately 130 years, delivered in an antique gilt frame that has been partially regilded. The work is guaranteed authentic.