Laurent GUETAL (1841-1892) - Lot 188

Laurent GUETAL (1841-1892) Torrent in the Oisans (study) Oil on wood panel. Titled later on the back; handwritten label on the back reciting: "Guétal (Laurent), Peintre paysagiste, plus particulièrement de montagnes. Vienne (Isère) 1842 - Le Rondeau-Grenoble 1892. First a supervisor, then a teacher at the Petit Séminaire du Rondeau, near Grenoble, where he remained until the end of his life, it wasn't until 1870 that Abbé Guétal was able to devote himself seriously to painting. He was initially inspired by Calame and Ravanat, and received advice from Jean Achard, the famous painter from the Dauphiné region who, along with Corot, Rousseau and Daubigny, had been one of the creators of the great school of modern landscape painting. He debuted in 1882 at the Salon de Paris de la Société de Artistes Français with two paintings, and continued to exhibit in 1883, 1884 and 1885, 3rd med. 1886; 1887; 1888; 2nd med. 1889 (E.U.) with an honorable rank, 8th out of 112; -H. C.- His paintings were always accepted. In 1891, on the advice of Maître Meissonnier, who had just founded (1890) the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, dissident from the Société des Artistes Français, he sent "La Vallée du Vénéon" and "Trois études" to this exhibition. This artist of gentle and rare modesty, whose death came so abruptly to end his career (he was only 51) and to whom the brightest future was assured, was justly considered to represent, with the most sincerity and authority, the genre of the great alpine landscape, as well as being one of his first masters through the power and delicacy of his brush". 28 x 21.5 cm (painting) 36 x 30.5 cm (frame)