Lucien SIMON (1861-1945 )Le Départ en barque de... Lot 3

Lucien SIMON (1861-1945 )Le Départ en barque de saint Galonnec, Saint-Servan, circa 1890Oil on canvas. Unsigned. Charcoal sketch on the back of the canvas. 48 x 63 cmA certificate from Madame Corinne Simon, granddaughter of the artist, dated May 12, 2004 will be given to the buyer. This painting is a study for "Le Départ de saint Galonnec" (The Departure of Saint Galonnec) which was presented at the Salon of 1891 and whose catalogue includes a sentence taken from the "Foyer Breton" by Émile Souvestre published in 1845: " ... Saint Galonnec left on a boat; his parents said goodbye to him in tears" (Arthur Hustin, Salon de 1891, Société des artistes français et Société nationale des beaux-arts, Paris, L. Baschet, 1891, p. 131). Saint Galonnec, the future bishop of Leon, left his family to go and evangelise Armorique. The scene takes place on the coasts of Hybernia, in Ireland, but the scene planted by Lucien Simon is that of the mouth of the Rance River, near Dinard. The town of Saint-Servan and the Solidor Tower can be seen in the background. This early work of the artist is, with its final version, presented at the Salon of 1891, one of the rare Breton subjects treated by the artist, which does not concern Finistère. These two paintings were created the year of her marriage to Jeanne Dauchez (1890). It was following this marriage that Lucien Simon and his in-laws discovered Bénodet and adopted Finistère.