Bonaventure LAURENS - View of Grenoble from the path to the Grand Chatreuse

Jean Joseph Bonaventure LAURENS (Attributed to)
Carpentras, 1801 – Montpellier, 1890
View of Grenoble from the path to the Grande Chartreuse
Oil on canvas mounted on cardboard
35.5 x 42.5 cm (46.5 x 54.5 cm with frame)
Old label on the back "No. 204 / Laurens J.B. / Montpellier"
Old label on the back locating the painting "Grenoble / Confluence of the Isère and the Drac / seen from the path to the left Chartreuse by the Sappey near the Sacré Coeur"
Beautiful varnished fruitwood frame
Very good condition
On view at the gallery

Jean Joseph Bonaventure Laurens was born on July 14, 1801, in Carpentras. He was a painter, watercolorist, lithographer, but also a musician and archaeologist. He also set up a painting and music studio in his home at the Faculty of Medicine in Montpellier, where he worked as a "secretary and accounting officer." Bonaventure Laurens frequented musicians (Liszt, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms) as well as painters (Ingres, Corot, Cabanel). His younger brother was the painter Jules Laurens (1825-1901). Bonaventure Laurens is known for his many watercolor landscapes, including a series of landscapes of Grenoble and its surrounding areas (published in 1983 as an album (Jean Pierre Debbane Edition, "L'Isère au temps des crinolines")). But his painters are much rarer.
This view from the heights of Grenoble demonstrates Bonaventure Laurens's talent as a painter, particularly in the beautiful sky and the rendering of nature, as well as his drawing skills in the many architectural details of the city of Grenoble and its surroundings.

Ref: H6578U7X72