Lot 86: Augustin Marius Paul Bec, called Polydore de Bec , Aix-en-Provence 1797 or 1799 - 1874 A landscape with a waterfall, a mountain village at the edge of the cliff oil on canvas

signed and dated lower right P. de Bec/ 1830 oil on canvas

measurements note 40 1/4 by 51 in.; 102.3 by 129.5 cm.

Private collection, France, from whom acquired by the present owner.

Augustin Marius Paul Bec, called Polydore de Bec, trained under Jean Antoine Constantin d'Aix and the renowned landscape painter François-Marius Granet. All three artists lived and worked in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France. It is unclear whether, like Granet, Polydore de Bec went to Rome, but nevertheless, like his master, he possesed the ability to paint majestically composed landscapes that beautifully conjured the topography and atmosphere of southern Europe. Following the technique of painting outdoors initiated in the late 18th century by his predecessors Simon Denis and Jean-Joseph-Xavier Bidault, Polydore de Bec continued this tradition of plein air painting wherein the artist would paint his impressions directly onto the canvas. These sketches would then be reused as aides-memoires in the studio to produce larger and more highly finished compositions, of which the present picture is a monumental example. Works by this artist are very rare, as he only exhibited a View of the Temple of Diana Close to the Vernegues in his native town of Aix in 1824, and at the Salons in 1827 and 1829. This work certainly fits among his most elaborate and highly finished compositions.