Jean-georges Pasquet (1851–1936) Caesar’s Camp In Périgueux, Dordogne

Jean-Georges PASQUET
(Périgueux 1851–1936)
A path on the côboat from Camp de César on the heights of Périgueux
Oil on panel
H. 35 cm; W. 24 cm
Signed and dated 1901 in the lower right corner. Sited and inscribed on the back.

Provenance:
- 1907, donated by the artist to the raffle held by the branch school of the École Normale in Périgueux;
- Private collection, Périgueux

Jean-Georges Pasquet was born in 1851 in Périgueux. After a childhood in the Périgord region about which very little is known, the young artist arrived in Paris and enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts, from which he graduated with honors a few years later. He returned to his native region in 1879 to take over as director of the Municipal School of Drawing in Périgueux, and also became a drawing instructor at the boys’ and girls’ teacher training colleges.

A student of Gustave Boulanger, Jules Lefèvre, and Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant, the painter set up his easel along the banks of the Dordogne or the Isle to “recount a few memories” through realistic landscapes filled with gentleness. Through his style, the painter conveyed a profound appreciation to his compatriots for his homeland and his roots. His works, stripped of artifice, depict local residents working their fields or simply strolling along country paths. These paintings and drawings by Pasquet chronicle life in the Périgord at the dawn of and throughout the 20th century, always set in specific locations.

He is one of the artists of the Périgueux School. This school, somewhat overlooked in art history, highlights the heritage and identity of the Périgord region. Among its representatives are Jean-Louis Daniel, André Saigne, Georges Darnet, René Laforest, Roger Favard, and André Prugent. The common thread uniting this movement is a theme that stands apart from the artistic norms of the time: landscape.

“It’s a school without a leader or a dominant style, but one that worked with extraordinary enthusiasm. They loved to tackle fragments of nature that we call ‘picadis’ here. ”
Jean-Michel Linfort

The artist paints the Dordogne, but not exclusively; he also travels to the Creuse and, very regularly, to Saint-Georges-de-Didonne. There, he paints rivers, the sea, harbors, bridges, dunes, and forests. These are all subjects he knows how to capture and bring to life through vivid colors and the movement of his brushstrokes, lending depth to the landscapes.

The outskirts of Périgueux are a common theme in the painter’s work. From Chancelade to Trélissac, he traverses the banks of the Isle River to capture contrasting scenes, often enlivened by a few figures going about their business. Here, the view is taken from the city’s high ground, on the left bank of the river. The famous Camp de César, located in Coulounieix-Chamiers, is not, as its name might suggest, Roman. It is the ancient oppidum of the Petrocores tribe, the founders of the city. This shepherdess and her few sheep were sculpted by Pasquet in 1901, kept in his studio, and donated to the raffle at the annex of the École Normale, where he was a professor, six years later.