Joseph Castaing (1860-1918) - Pagan Procession, Circa 1890 - Symbolist Pastel

Joseph Castaing (1860-1918)
Symbolist work
Pagan Procession, Circa 1890
Pastel 35 x 54 cm
Signed lower left

Born in Pau, Henry Castaing studied under Victor Venat in Pau from 1881 to 1883, then he spent two years in Italy at the San Luca Academy in Rome in the classes of Brushi and Sciuti. Back in France, he enrolled at the Beaux-Arts in Paris where he became a pupil of William Laparra, Léon Bonnat and Benjamin Constant. From 1892, he divided his time between teaching drawing and producing canvases with subjects ranging from religious to secular. He exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français from 1898 to 1908, then one last time in 1914. Castaing's religious fervor and his great knowledge of iconography are revealed in some twenty compositions made in churches and chapels. A series painted at the Chapelle Notre Dame d'Oloron Sainte Marie deserves special mention because of the praise given to it by Eugene Carriere and Maurice Denis. The work was also subsequently (1980) classified in the inventory of the heritage of historical monuments and the French artistic heritage. Another notable example of his work are the compositions made in the churches of Notre Dame, St Martin and St Jacques de Pau. Henri Castaing was also a talented portrait painter and, as such, the most fashionable Pau artist of the Belle Epoque responded to orders from the bourgeoisie for mansions, working in oil, pastel, or blood. Retrospective “Joseph Castaing, a painter from Bearn” in Oloron on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the artist's birth in October 2011. The Maison Carrée in Nay in July 2011 presented around 60 works by Joseph Castaing and his son René -Marie (1896-1943). Museums: Pau (MBA) Lourdes (Museum of Sanctuaries).