On The Banks Of The Armance - J Robert Late Nineteenth

Dimensions at sight Height: 46.5 cm Length: 65 cm Dimensions with frame Height: 62.5 cm Length: 81cm Frame Contemporary frame Material Oil on canvas Signature Signed: J Robert Dated 1898

In the background on the left stand the towers of Semur-en-Auxois, last vestiges of the ramparts. Capital and stronghold of Auxois and the Duchy of Burgundy in the 11th century, Semur had a powerful wall flanked by twenty towers. The formidable defensive system of Semur was dismantled in 1602. Indeed, during the Wars of Religion which tore France apart between 1562 and 1598, Semur had been the only town in Burgundy to have remained loyal to the King of France, Henri IV. He had the Parliament of Dijon transferred there in 1590. The painter set up his easel on the banks of the Armance, to paint the sumptuous landscape before him. There are three of the four massive towers that survived the destruction of the ramparts. The Tour Margot, Tour de l'Orle d'Or, Tour de la Géhenna and Tour de la Prison were part of the defensive scheme of the dungeon they guarded. The Tour de l'Orle d'or, the leftmost on the table, is also the most imposing with its 44.30 meters in height. In the foreground, the scene is very bucolic, with the Armançe peacefully flowing in its crystalline waters.
A young man armed with a stick hunts crayfish on the edge of the river while further on, a fisherman lets himself go in his boat with the current. Very beautiful canvas dated 1898.
We know a Jules Robert born in 1843 and died in 1898, painter and engraver (he worked in particular for the Banque de France in the years 1882 to 1896 for which he designed the banknotes of 50, 100 francs and 500 francs). But his signature absolutely does not correspond to that of our painting. His beautiful workmanship, his well-organized composition and his mastery of color testify to a talented artist, but once again, the dictionaries did not retain his biography...