Raphael Ponson (1835 - 1904) — The Mirror With Birds
Artist: Raphaël Ponson
The Mirror with Birds
Oil on canvas, signed lower left, countersigned and titled on the reverse "Quartier de Bescon, Martigues".
45 x 70 cm.
Raphaël Ponson: Official Painter of a Provence in Transformation
It was undoubtedly through family tradition that the young man was drawn to painting. His father, and his grandfather before him, had made it their profession. Originally from the Var region, the Ponson family settled in Marseille in the 1840s, and a few years later, young Raphaël Ponson enrolled at the city's School of Fine Arts. Emile Loubon had been its esteemed director since 1845. He introduced a less rigid approach to teaching than before, focused on nature and recognizing each student's unique sensibility, encouraging their individuality. He attracted in his wake young painters eager to learn from nature, in direct contact with the environment, which at the time constituted a small regional revolution. Raphaël Ponson was among them, further benefiting from his interactions with masters from diverse backgrounds, particularly the Barbizon painters, who, through the Salon of the Société des Amis des Arts, came to Marseille to present their work. At the end of this apprenticeship, Raphaël Ponson decided to go to Paris. At the Louvre, he absorbed the art of his predecessors, especially the landscape masters Poussin and Claude Lorrain. Employed in a fan-painting workshop, he refined his style, learning this meticulous technique which would later be reflected in his works on paper. He also discovered Normandy, under a sky so different from the one he had previously been accustomed to painting. Before settling permanently in Marseille, he made the traditional artistic pilgrimage to Italy: Rome, Venice, and especially Naples, where he rediscovered his beloved Mediterranean stretching out at the foot of Vesuvius. Back in Marseille from 1859 onward, Raphael Ponson settled into his family and professional life. He married Marie Lefèvre in 1862, and three children were born of this union. His submissions to the Parisian salons began in 1861 and met with considerable success. Prestigious public commissions soon followed, and in 1865, Charles Emile de Maupas, Prefect of Bouches-du-Rhône, commissioned the artist to decorate the gallery of private apartments in the new prefecture of Marseille, which would be inaugurated in 1867. That same year, he presented a large composition at the Universal Exhibition. The painter, whose reputation was growing, was soon entrusted with decorating three rooms of the Natural History Museum housed in the Palais Longchamp, an emblematic building of the second half of the 19th century erected to commemorate the arrival of water from the Durance River in Marseille. Around 1878, he set up his studio in a private mansion on Rue Sénac and continued to live comfortably from his painting, gaining the support of many art lovers and undertaking various decorative commissions for both private and public works. At the dawn of the new century, however, the explosion of innovative pictorial movements caused him to lose some of the interest of critics and the public. After his death, the artist's studio remained closed for nearly thirty years. It was only in 1932 that his daughter, yielding to numerous requests, agreed to a retrospective exhibition at the Caors-Cottier gallery in Marseille. Alexis Pentcheff is the recognized specialist on the painter Raphaël Ponson. He dedicated a monograph to him in 2008 and has been cataloging the artist's work for several years with a view to compiling a catalogue raisonné of his oeuvre. From March 30 to August 28, 2016, the Regards de Provence Museum paid tribute to this artist with the exhibition: Light and Gentleness by Raphael Ponson.
Discover more of this artist's works on the gallery's website: https://www.galeriepentcheff.fr/fr/peintre-raphael-ponson#Bio
Oil on canvas, signed lower left, countersigned and titled on the reverse "Quartier de Bescon, Martigues".
45 x 70 cm.
Raphaël Ponson: Official Painter of a Provence in Transformation
It was undoubtedly through family tradition that the young man was drawn to painting. His father, and his grandfather before him, had made it their profession. Originally from the Var region, the Ponson family settled in Marseille in the 1840s, and a few years later, young Raphaël Ponson enrolled at the city's School of Fine Arts. Emile Loubon had been its esteemed director since 1845. He introduced a less rigid approach to teaching than before, focused on nature and recognizing each student's unique sensibility, encouraging their individuality. He attracted in his wake young painters eager to learn from nature, in direct contact with the environment, which at the time constituted a small regional revolution. Raphaël Ponson was among them, further benefiting from his interactions with masters from diverse backgrounds, particularly the Barbizon painters, who, through the Salon of the Société des Amis des Arts, came to Marseille to present their work. At the end of this apprenticeship, Raphaël Ponson decided to go to Paris. At the Louvre, he absorbed the art of his predecessors, especially the landscape masters Poussin and Claude Lorrain. Employed in a fan-painting workshop, he refined his style, learning this meticulous technique which would later be reflected in his works on paper. He also discovered Normandy, under a sky so different from the one he had previously been accustomed to painting. Before settling permanently in Marseille, he made the traditional artistic pilgrimage to Italy: Rome, Venice, and especially Naples, where he rediscovered his beloved Mediterranean stretching out at the foot of Vesuvius. Back in Marseille from 1859 onward, Raphael Ponson settled into his family and professional life. He married Marie Lefèvre in 1862, and three children were born of this union. His submissions to the Parisian salons began in 1861 and met with considerable success. Prestigious public commissions soon followed, and in 1865, Charles Emile de Maupas, Prefect of Bouches-du-Rhône, commissioned the artist to decorate the gallery of private apartments in the new prefecture of Marseille, which would be inaugurated in 1867. That same year, he presented a large composition at the Universal Exhibition. The painter, whose reputation was growing, was soon entrusted with decorating three rooms of the Natural History Museum housed in the Palais Longchamp, an emblematic building of the second half of the 19th century erected to commemorate the arrival of water from the Durance River in Marseille. Around 1878, he set up his studio in a private mansion on Rue Sénac and continued to live comfortably from his painting, gaining the support of many art lovers and undertaking various decorative commissions for both private and public works. At the dawn of the new century, however, the explosion of innovative pictorial movements caused him to lose some of the interest of critics and the public. After his death, the artist's studio remained closed for nearly thirty years. It was only in 1932 that his daughter, yielding to numerous requests, agreed to a retrospective exhibition at the Caors-Cottier gallery in Marseille. Alexis Pentcheff is the recognized specialist on the painter Raphaël Ponson. He dedicated a monograph to him in 2008 and has been cataloging the artist's work for several years with a view to compiling a catalogue raisonné of his oeuvre. From March 30 to August 28, 2016, the Regards de Provence Museum paid tribute to this artist with the exhibition: Light and Gentleness by Raphael Ponson.
Discover more of this artist's works on the gallery's website: https://www.galeriepentcheff.fr/fr/peintre-raphael-ponson#Bio
8 000 €
Period: 19th century
Style: Modern Art
Condition: Good condition
Material: Oil painting
Reference (ID): 1678232
Availability: In stock
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