Antoine Alphonse MONTFORT (1802-1884) Lot n° 1

Camel stop in front of Nazareth Oil on canvas, Signed and dated 1840 lower right. Bears a stamp of the merchant of color "a la palette". 39 x 62,5 cm As usual, Montfort executed two (preparatory?) watercolours in our oil, of smaller sizes and identical compositions. It is plausible that our painting is the one that was exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1844 (then reproduced in the Illustration of the same year, cf. bibliography). Related works -Camel drivers halt in front of Nazareth on 30 November 1837, watercolour signed and located on the lower left, 24 x 41 cm, sale Tajan 24/05/2011 - Fountain in Nazareth, watercolour signed lower right, 20 x 26 cm, sale Gros & Delettrez 16/06/2014, n°1. Exhibition of works with the same title -Paris Salon of 1844 - Paris Salon of 1855 Bibliography - Ad. Siret, Dictionnaire historique des peintres de toutes les écoles..., Brussels, 1848, p. 518 - L'Illustration, Journal Universel, n°61, volume 3, April 27, 1844. Traveling Painters in Lebanon in the 19th century were few in number. The Lebanese iconography is very rare. This is why Montfort's work is precious for orientalists. Montfort stayed twice in the Orient. From 1827-1828, as a drawing teacher on board the frigate La Victorieuse, he visited the Greek islands, Constantinople, and the coasts of Lebanon and Egypt. His second voyage, from 1837-1838, took him to Lebanon, Syria and Palestine. The National Library preserves his accounts and manuscripts of his travels. His works are not very common on the market because most of his workshop is kept in the Graphic Arts Department of the Louvre Museum, (900 sketches, watercolours and studies). For an account of the artist's trip to Lebanon from 1837 to 1838, see René Dussaud, "Le peintre Montfort en Syrie" (Syria 1920-1921, Paris, Librairie Paul Guetner, 1921).