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Lot Essay
le Petit Paris, le Paris des Isles, la Perle des Antilles
The picturesque town of Saint-Pierre, then the commercial and cultural centre of Martinique and of the French Antilles, lies on the north-west coast of the island below the slopes of the volcanic Mont Pelée (whose eruption in 1902 destroyed the town): '... We are ashore in St. Pierre, the quaintest, queerest, and the prettiest withal, among West Indian cities: all stone-built and stone-flagged, with very narrow streets, wooden or zinc awnings, and peaked roofs of red tile, pierced by gabled dormers. Most of the buildings are painted in a clear yellow tone, which contrasts delightfully with the burning blue ribbon of tropical sky above; and no street is absolutely level; nearly all of them climb hills, descend into hollows, curve, twist, describe sudden angles. There is everywhere a loud murmur of running water – pouring through the deep gutters contrived between the paved thoroughfare and the absurd little sidewalks, varying in width from one to three feet. The architecture is quite old: it is seventeenth century, probably; and it reminds one of a great deal that is characterising the antiquated French quarter of New Orleans. All the tints, the forms, the vistas, would have been especially selected or designed for aquarelle studies – just to please the whim of the extravagant artist.' (L. Hearn, Two Years in the French West Indies, London, 1890, pp.35-6).
Cazabon visited Martinique in 1853 and, as his clientele in Trinidad dwindled, took his family to Saint-Pierre, Martinique in August 1862 in search of new patrons. Intending to settle permanently, he rented a house in rue Longchamps and produced works for merchants and wealthy planters and illustrations for the French newspapers, but appears to have had little success and returned to Trinidad in 1870. In Trinidad he had difficulties resuming his career and died a forgotten figure in 1888. Geoffrey MacLean included no oils of the island in his catalogue of known works by the artist in 1986 (G. MacLean, Cazabon, An Illustrated Biography etc., Port of Spain, 1986). This is just the second oil of the island by Cazabon to appear at auction since then, the smaller canvas, 'The Coast at Le Carbet, Martinique, with the Trou Caraïbe, looking towards St Pierre', sold in these rooms, 26 Sept. 1997, lot 10.
The picturesque town of Saint-Pierre, then the commercial and cultural centre of Martinique and of the French Antilles, lies on the north-west coast of the island below the slopes of the volcanic Mont Pelée (whose eruption in 1902 destroyed the town): '... We are ashore in St. Pierre, the quaintest, queerest, and the prettiest withal, among West Indian cities: all stone-built and stone-flagged, with very narrow streets, wooden or zinc awnings, and peaked roofs of red tile, pierced by gabled dormers. Most of the buildings are painted in a clear yellow tone, which contrasts delightfully with the burning blue ribbon of tropical sky above; and no street is absolutely level; nearly all of them climb hills, descend into hollows, curve, twist, describe sudden angles. There is everywhere a loud murmur of running water – pouring through the deep gutters contrived between the paved thoroughfare and the absurd little sidewalks, varying in width from one to three feet. The architecture is quite old: it is seventeenth century, probably; and it reminds one of a great deal that is characterising the antiquated French quarter of New Orleans. All the tints, the forms, the vistas, would have been especially selected or designed for aquarelle studies – just to please the whim of the extravagant artist.' (L. Hearn, Two Years in the French West Indies, London, 1890, pp.35-6).
Cazabon visited Martinique in 1853 and, as his clientele in Trinidad dwindled, took his family to Saint-Pierre, Martinique in August 1862 in search of new patrons. Intending to settle permanently, he rented a house in rue Longchamps and produced works for merchants and wealthy planters and illustrations for the French newspapers, but appears to have had little success and returned to Trinidad in 1870. In Trinidad he had difficulties resuming his career and died a forgotten figure in 1888. Geoffrey MacLean included no oils of the island in his catalogue of known works by the artist in 1986 (G. MacLean, Cazabon, An Illustrated Biography etc., Port of Spain, 1986). This is just the second oil of the island by Cazabon to appear at auction since then, the smaller canvas, 'The Coast at Le Carbet, Martinique, with the Trou Caraïbe, looking towards St Pierre', sold in these rooms, 26 Sept. 1997, lot 10.