Paul Camille Guigou (1834-1871) People At The Seaside In Marseille

A great specialist of inland landscapes and the Durance valley,  Paul Guigou also painted the seaside around Marseille.
The Corniche or the rocks of Les Goudes, the Pointe Rouge among the subjects most appreciated by collectors.
The work presented here is located on the back on two old labelsof " La Madrague, La Pointe Rouge" and dated 1867.
It depicts a family of fishermen having lunch in a covein a cove reached by stairs cut directly into the rock.
Beautiful contrasts of color between sea, sky and rocksand rocks, and a few touches of red on the figures, bring the scene to life and enliven the scene.
Painted in oil on wood, it is presented in a finein a fine 19th-century frame measuring 36.5 cm by 53.5 cm and 24 cm by 41cm for the panel alone.
In good condition, the work is much more beautiful in reality than in photographs because of the shiny glazes used by the artist, It is signed and dated 1867 lower left.

Paul Camille Guigou was born on February 15, 1834, in Villars (Vaucluse) into a well-to-do family of farmers and notaries. He attended school in Apt, where his talents did not go unnoticed by his drawing teacher. From 1854 to 1861, Paul Guigou worked as a notary's clerk in Marseille. The paintings of Gustave Courbet, which he discovered at the 1855 Universal Exhibition, strongly influenced him throughout his time in Marseille. He trained at the Marseille School of Fine Arts, one of the most original and active schools in France. The director, Émile Loubon, a close associate of the Barbizon School painters, fostered a taste for landscape painting among the students and encouraged them to paint en plein air. Loubon also gave him access to the exhibitions he organized through the Society of Friends of the Arts of Marseille. In 1863, after Loubon's death, Paul Guigou left Marseille for good and moved to Paris. He lived at 44 rue de la Tour-d'Auvergne, where he frequented the Café Guerbois, a meeting place for many future Impressionist painters. He became friends with the southern painter Frédéric Bazille, Alfred Sisley, and Claude Monet. However, his paintings remained primarily depictions of the calm and peaceful Haute-Provence he returned to each summer. His luminous landscapes are frequently presented in wide panoramas that give prominence to a brilliant blue sky. These favorite subjects range from the garrigue of the Luberon to the banks of the Durance River, from Plan-d'Orgon to Saint-Saturnin-lès-Apt, from the hills of Allauch to the Étang de Berre. His paintings were regularly exhibited at the Paris Salon from 1863 to 1870. Having left the capital before the war and the Commune, Paul Guigou returned, hired by Baroness de Rothschild as a drawing teacher, a position that was finally supposed to provide him with a stable income. He died suddenly on December 21, 1871, from a cerebral hemorrhage. After his death, his work fell into oblivion for nearly thirty years; it was the Centennial Exhibition of French Art in 1900, organized as part of the 1900 Universal Exhibition in Paris, that brought it back into the public eye. In the 21st century, several exhibitions, notably in Paris (the Musée Marmottan Monet in 2004, bringing together 118 of his paintings, watercolors, and drawings) and in Marseille (the Musée des Beaux-Arts in 2005), have helped to raise his profile. His paintings are held in France, among other places, at the Musée d'Orsay and the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Marseille. Gineste Road, near Marseille, 1859, oil on canvas, 89 × 117 cm, Paris, Musée d'Orsay. The Washerwoman, 1860, oil on canvas, 81 × 59 cm, Paris, Musée d'Orsay. Landscape of Provence, 1860, oil on canvas, 54 × 81 cm, Paris, Musée d'Orsay. Hill of Saint-Loup, 1860, oil on wood, 27 × 39 cm, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Carcassonne. The Hills of Allauch, 1862, oil on canvas, 108 × 199 cm, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Marseille. Washerwoman at the Stream, 1862, oil on canvas, 38 × 56 cm, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Marseille. The Banks of the Durance, 1862, oil on canvas, 21 × 47 cm, Marseille, Regards de Provence Museum. The Great Willows, 1864, oil on canvas, Marseille Museum of Fine Arts. The Village of Saint-Paul on the Banks of the Durance, 1865, oil on canvas, 65 × 150 cm, Pasadena, Norton Simon Museum. The Pines on the Banks of the Durance, 1869, oil on canvas, 23 × 45 cm, Marseille Museum of Fine Arts. The Banks of the Durance at Saint-Paul, 1864, oil on canvas, 62 × 148 cm, Art Institute of Chicago. Durance, 1866, oil on canvas, 66 × 118 cm, Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum. The Durance Valley, 1869, oil on wood, Hamburg, Kunsthalle. Road along the Mediterranean, near Marseille, 1866, oil on canvas, 65 × 117 cm, Christie's sale 2004, current location unknown. Self-Portrait, 1869, oil on wood, 40 × 29.5 cm, Avignon, Musée Calvet. Provençal Landscape, 1869, oil on wood, 24 × 40 cm, Montpellier, Musée Fabre. Landscape at Martigues, 1869, oil on canvas, 28 × 46 cm, Pasadena, Norton Simon Museum. Landscape of Southern France, 1870, oil on panel, 18 × 45 cm, Pasadena, Norton Simon Museum. Dates undocumented. The Hill Path, oil on canvas, 40 × 47.5 cm, Toulon Art Museum. Banks of the Arc, oil on canvas, 26 × 41 cm, Toulon Art Museum. Hills of Provence, Cannes, Musée de la Castre. Landscape, Athens, National Gallery.