Louis CAPDEVIELLE (1849-1905) Shepherdess overlooking... Lot 308

Louis CAPDEVIELLE (1849-1905) Shepherdess overlooking a Pyrenean valley in Bigorre Oil on canvas signed lower right and dated 1897 220 x 200 cm Born in Lourdes, Louis Capdevielle studied with Aimé Millet, Léon Bonnat and Alexandre Cabanel in Paris. He made a living from portrait commissions, but when he returned to his native region in 1890, the demands were less regular and life more difficult. He devoted more time to large landscapes and genre scenes, for which he did not hesitate to draw inspiration from the portraits of those close to him. He met Emile Zola in 1892, when he came to Lourdes, and painted his portrait. His work is an important testimony to Pyrenean painting at the end of the 19th century, and above all to the cultural life of the Hautes Pyrénées at the time. Our spectacular painting on canvas follows in the footsteps of Louis Capdevielle's great landscapes of Luz-Saint-Sauveur and Cauterets, which he composed in photographic style: a figure, perhaps inspired by his daughter, is posed to one side in the foreground, while he paints the landscapes of his native region with romanticism and precision. Inspired by the area around Lourdes, it is probably possible to identify the Pic d'Ardiden and the Cauterets valley.