Diodore Rahoult - The Pilgrims

Diodore Rahoult, Grenoble, 1819 – Grenoble, 1874. The Pilgrims. Oil on canvas. Signed lower right “D. Rahoult”. 38 x 48.5 cm (45 x 56 cm with frame). Very fine original frame. Very good condition. To quote the organizers of the 2013/2014 exhibition on the painter at the Musée de l'Ancien Évêché in Grenoble: “Throughout his life, Diodore Rahoult constantly depicted scenes from the world around him, both from his native Dauphiné region and from places he visited, such as Rome and Italy. His work reveals a great curiosity in which emotion plays a central role. This is evidenced by the expression ‘words of the palette!’” which he used to express the feelings he experienced before a landscape or a remarkable scene. After studying in Grenoble with the painter Horace Mollard, Diodore Rahoult arrived in Paris in 1842 and joined the studio of Léon Cogniet. He left for Rome in early 1846. He studied the classics but also filled his sketchbooks and painted landscapes and figures. Diodore Rahoult returned to Grenoble in 1847, where he settled and painted either the Dauphiné region or Italy. He exhibited at various Salons in Grenoble, Montpellier, Saint-Étienne, Lyon, and Paris. He remained very attached to both his native Dauphiné and Italy, where he made a second trip in 1868/1869. Our painting is undoubtedly a scene of pilgrimage in the Bay of Naples, judging by the costumes, a pilgrimage to a small shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Rahoult was initially a painter of genre scenes, but he also painted religious subjects. In particular, he participated in the decoration of the Chapel of the Virgin at the Church of Saint Andrew in Grenoble.