Georges Darnet (1859–1936) The Hills Of Périgueux, Dordogne, Périgord

Georges DARNET
(Périgueux 1859–1936)
The Heights of Périgueux
Oil on cardboard
H. 27 cm; W. 35 cm
Signed lower left
Paintings on the two faces

Provenance: Private collection, Périgueux

Georges Darnet was born in Périgueux to a family of tailors originally from the banks of the Dordogne near Lalinde on his father’s side and to a family of butchers from the department’s capital on his mother’s side. He grew up and pursued his studies in Périgueux before moving to Bordeaux to attend the École des Beaux-Arts as a boarding student. Unfortunately, we do not know the details of his life or career, but we do know that he studied under Louis Auguin, the famous Bordeaux painter known for his depictions of the dunes along the Atlantic coast. It was undoubtedly through his apprenticeship with the master that he came to favor works with light, luminous hues, in which color never overshadows the soft, dreamlike atmosphere.

Upon his return to Périgueux after completing his studies, Georges Darnet became a teacher at the city’s art school, which was directed by Jean-Georges Pasquet. This painter, who was eight years his senior, would become his loyal friend. They would work side by side en plein air on their days off.

He was drafted during World War I at the age of 55 and was wounded three times by February 1918, earning him the Croix de Guerre, without ever being discharged.

However, he did not abandon his brushes and even exhibited his works at the Salon des Artistes Français, of which he had already been a member in his youth, and where he received an honorable mention in 1920 and a third medal in 1928.

Certainly among Darnet’s most gentle works, this landscape painted on the heights of Périgueux is a blend of light greens and pinks. A sculpted landscape in the foreground gently opens onto a horizon where the hills and sky blend in pastel hues. The middle ground shows us the city of Périgueux, with the domes of Saint-Front Cathedral rising above it. The freshness conveyed by the composition as a whole adds to the natural gentleness that the artist always imparts to the viewer.