François Simon (1818-1896) The Bouvier Leading His Calves

Nice painting by Provencal animal master François Simon. The work, in good condition, is done in oil on canvas, it is signed lower left and represents a herdsman accompanied by four calves. It measures in its beautiful gilded frame which needs a slight restoration (some chips of gilding which will be restored) 56 cm by 76.5 cm and 41 cm by 62 cm without the frame. Modest and sincere artist, who, after having been Aubert's pupil at the free drawing school in Marseille, asked Loubon to perfect him. Painting is my only happiness, he wrote naively in his plea. François Simon was 35 years old when at a trade fair in Lyon his talent was appreciated by a wealthy amateur who helped and encouraged him until the end of his life. The animals he represented, sheep, goats, donkeys, cows are small portraits painted with true tenderness. But he did not acquire from Loubon a taste for movement and action. His stable interiors by the diffusion of skilfully studied lighting will restore his best Paintings. The Musée des Beaux-Arts in Marseille, in the Palais Longchamps, preserves him: two goats in the stable, on their way to the slaughterhouse (1859), Moutons aux pasturages (1864), Beliers and ewes in the Fours à Chaux valley (1878), as well as charcoal portraits.