Original Drawing, C. 1820: Design For A Column At Riquet On The Pierres De Naurouze, Languedoc Canal

“Design for a Column to Be Erected on the Naurouse Rocks, by P.P. Riquet, Baron de Bonrepos, designer of the Canal Royal de Languedoc” (Aude). [Circa 1820].

Pen and watercolor. 28 x 43 cm (image size), in a modern frame measuring 44.5 x 59.5 cm. Two small brown spots to the left of the column and on the ladder.

Pierre-Paul Riquet (1609–1680) was the designer of the Canal du Midi, connecting Toulouse to the Mediterranean Sea. Several projects had been proposed, but Riquet’s idea of channeling water from the Montagne Noire to the Naurouze threshold—the watershed between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea and the canal’s highest point—convinced Colbert. The canal was known as the Royal Canal of Languedoc until the Revolution. In the 19th century, the Garonne Canal was built, connecting Toulouse to the Atlantic Ocean; together, the two canals formed the Canal des Deux-Mers.

In the 1820s, Riquet’s descendants honored the memory of their illustrious ancestor by erecting an obelisk at this symbolic site at the Naurouze threshold (in the town of Montferrand in the Aude department). According to a popular legend, the stones of Naurouze were placed there by a giantess, and the day they touch will herald the end of the world. The design we present here is not the one that was ultimately selected: our design proposed a column topped by a statue, whereas the completed design is an obelisk with a pedestal adorned with bas-reliefs.


Ref. A10-98