Jean HENRY, called HENRY d'ARLES (1734-1784),... Lot 15

Jean HENRY, called HENRY d'ARLES (1734-1784), attributed to Fishermen in a Mediterranean port dominated by ancient ruins. Oil on canvas (framed). 115 x 155 cm. Restorations. Signed and dated lower right, on the rock "Henry d'Arles f 1776". (A wooden case) Provenance: Marcel Zambaux sale, Paris, November 21 and 22, 1922, lot n° 92 (Claude Joseph Vernet). Castle of Ferney-Voltaire. Anonymous sale, Monaco, Mes Calmels, Chambre et Cohen, August 1, 2000, lot n° 19. Jean Henry trained with Jean Joseph Kapeller (1706-1790) who recommended him to Claude Joseph Vernet to assist him. The influence of the master earned him the somewhat simplistic nickname of "Vernet's monkey". After a two-year stay in Rome, his art reached maturity. He was accepted in 1755 at the Academy of Painting and received his diploma in 1756 with "A Storm" (Musée des Beaux-Arts de Marseille). Our painting, considered a Vernet until the end of the last century, is characteristic of the style of Henry d'Arles, his work on the light and the treatment of the characters distinguish him from his master. The artist arranged his painting with motifs found in other works. The division of the composition between a horizon bathed in warm light and a rocky massif dominated by a tree is similar to the "Coastal Landscape with Fishermen" (Sale, London, Christie's 29 October 2015, lot 121, of a pair), the Roman ruins, which are reminiscent of Hubert Robert's manner, are very close to those of the "Coastal Landscape with Roman Ruins" acquired in 2017 by the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Marseille. There is another version, of reduced dimensions, "Scène portuaire avec des ruines antiques" (Sale anonyme, Brest, Me Lannon, February 8, 2017, lot 237) which attests to the success of the composition. In 1922, Pierre Lambert, son of Emile and Hortense Lambert, engineer and holder of the Laboratory of Physical Research of the Sorbonne, bought our painting at the Marcel Zambaux sale to decorate the walls of the castle of Ferney-Voltaire. In 1924 he chose a Vernet "View of a port" at the sale of the late Mr. P. "Jules Pagès" to complete his collection. The two paintings were classified as Historic Monuments in 1962, in addition to the classification of the castle of Ferney-Voltaire and its furniture in 1958. On August 1, 2000, the two paintings were put up for sale in Monaco and the Vernet passed into the collection of Louis Grandchamp des Raux, itself dispersed in 2015. Because of its provenance, our painting was classified as a historical monument by decree of December 28, 1962. This painting cannot leave the French territory.