MONTENARD Frédéric (1849-1926) 

"Landscape in Provence"

Oil on canvas mounted on its original cardboard, 
Signed lower left, 

Beautiful, bright and finely detailed work by the Toulon painter Frédéric Montenard which represents a view of the Provençal countryside, most likely in the area around Toulon where the artist loved to paint. All the elements symbolizing Provence are brought together in this painting: the olive trees, the stone cabin, the arid vegetation and the power of the light. The artist used a palette of warm colors to show the power of the sun in summer. 
The touch is precise, the details are pushed to the extreme in order to faithfully represent the landscape that the artist contemplates. 

A student of Dubuffe and Puvis de Chavannes at the Ecole des Beaux-arts in Paris, Frédéric Montenard began at the Salon with a charcoal drawing that was awarded an honorable mention in 1880. 
In 1879, he founded the Atelier des Beaux-arts in Toulon with the painters Eugène Dauphin, Gustave Garand and Octave Gallian. 
After leaving Paris and the Atlantic, the painter painted mainly in Provence and particularly in the Var. He taught at the Ecole des Beaux-arts in Toulon and had the painter François Nardi as a student, whom he encouraged. 
He exhibited regularly at the Salons in Paris and in the provinces where his work was repeatedly rewarded and acclaimed by critics. The French State acquired two of the artist's paintings presented at the Salon of 1883: "A cemetery in Provence" and "La Corrèze, war transport leaving Toulon". 
In 1890, he participated with the painter Puvis de Chavannes in the creation of the National Society of Fine Arts and met the Italian-Brazilian painter Giovanni Castagneto, whom he advised to follow the classes of the Toulon painter François Nardi. 

In 1921, Frédéric Montenard was appointed official painter of the Navy. He produced a large number of decorative panels for the Museum of Toulon, the mineralogical amphitheater of the Sorbonne, for the restaurant Le Train Bleu at the Gare de Lyon, .... Furthermore, in 1922, he illustrated an edition of Mireille de Mistral with original color engravings. 

After the First World War, the artist settled in Besse-sur-Issole. His works are now preserved in multiple museums in France: La Rochelle, Niort, Tourcoing, Marseille, Toulon, Paris .. and abroad such as in Turkey and the Sydney Museum. 

Dimensions: 38 x 61 cm without its frame and 68 x 90 cm with its beautiful original frame in carved and gilded wood. (Old restorations and accidents should be reported to the frame). 

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