Porte du potager dans la tonnelle sud de Marquayrol

Born in Toulouse, Henri Martin found that he missed the light of the South of France terribly when he moved to Paris. The artist dreamed of a house where he could live and paint which he descibed as "une vieille habitation avec un toit Louis XIII et des tonnelles sans terre ou presque. Donc une maison plutt place sur une hauteur, assez vaste...l'entourage immdiat de la maison avec un jardin ou parc et de grands alentours avec de paysages que je puisse peindre" (catalogue of the exhibition Henri Martin, 1860-1943, Muse Henri Martin, Cahors, 1993, p. 98). In 1900, at the age of 40, he found this ideal house in a small village in the Lot called Labastide du Vert, located near Cahors. Marquayrol, or "la maison du rocher" in the old southern, French dialect, had all the advantages he was looking for. Martin depicted every single feature of the house; the round pool and its statue, the terrace, the pergola, the vineyard and the gate were all to become recurrent subjects in his work.

At the age of 20, Henri Martin said "si j'osais et si je le pouvais, j'embrasserais la nature, oh, c'est elle qui est notre beau modle" (ibid, p. 89). Marquayrol remained Martin's connection with nature and light for more than forty years, providing him with the key for his inspiration and development.

A photo-certificate from Cyrille Martin dated Marquayrol, 25 January 1999 accompanies this painting.