Lina Bill (1855–1936) Landscape With Broom

The Magic of Colorwith the bright yellow of the blooming broom standing out against the deep blue-greens of the pines and cypresses, and against the soft mauve of the hills.
A magnificent harmony of yellow and violet-blue in this watercolor by the painter Louis Bonnot, also known as Lina Bill.
The watercolor is in its original good condition and is presented in a simple, gilded frame measuring 41.5 cm by 61.5 cm, with the watercolor itself measuring 36.5 cm by 54.5 cm.
It depicts a landscape with blooming broom enlivened by two figures, with a sky rendered in light washes where white cumulus clouds cast a soft spring light.
An S-shaped dirt path starts at the bottom of the image and draws the eye to ward the center, where a manis walking, a cane in hand. Behind him, the smaller silhouette of a woman, barely sketched, adds depth.
A watercolor of a Provençal landscape in the tradition of the late 19th and early 20th centuries—pleasant,luminous, and well-composed, whose great charm lies in the brilliance of the broom and the lightness of the sky.
In its original, good condition, it is signed in the lower left corner.
The work is even more beautiful in reality because it is difficult to photograph due to the glass in the frame.

The son of a wealthy shipowner, and with little or no interest in the sea, Louis Bonnot decided to dedicate his life to painting. Choosing to depict water, the sea, Provence, and the Mediterranean, he adopted the pseudonym Lina Bill and became a watercolorist, although he also practiced oil painting.
Married and with a child, he left his family and his native village, settling in Toulon as a painter and photographer during the 1880s.
In 1886, he left Toulon and moved to Avignon.
Lina Bill presented himself as a student of Vincent Courdouan and Paul Saïn, with whom he worked in 1887.
1888 marked his first participation in the Salon des Artistes Français, where he exhibited "Le Rhône à Avignon" (The Rhône at Avignon). He was then living in Avignon, specifically in the Monclar district.
In 1891, he received an honorable mention at the Salon des Artistes Français with "Le Village de Gruissan" (The Village of Gruissan).

Works in Public Collections
Museum of Fine Arts, Agen: View of Agde
Calvet Museum, Avignon:
View of the Cité de Carcassonne
The Village of Gruissan
Seascape near Banyuls
Museum of Fine Arts, Carcassonne: Les Martigues
Comtadin-Duplessis Museum, Carpentras: "On the Beach"
Goya Museum, Castres:
The Return from Fishing
View of Gruissan
Municipal Museum of Mont-de-Marsan: Morning in Gruissan
Museum of Art and History, Narbonne: Entrance to the Port of Marseille
Paul Valéry Museum, Sète: Fishing Boats - Sète, watercolor
Sanary Town Hall: The Port of Sanary
Port-Vendres Town Hall: The Quayside of Port-Vendres
French Embassy in Turkey, Istanbul: The Village of Gruissan