Monday, May 12, 2014

A Mystery Artist


My great-aunt Jessie was an adventurous soul. On one of her travels to France, she purchased a series of pen and ink sketches created by this artist. The drawings appear to be street scenes and were probably made in the early-ish 1900s. 


While it is difficult to see in this photo, painted on the wall of the building on the right are the words Caves St. Emilion. In hopes of learning a bit of the provenance of these sketches, I googled artists of St. Emilion and came across a website for the Little Gallery. I sent the proprietor of the gallery a compressed file of these images in hopes she would know something about the artist. Today, I received an email from Elena; and, alas, but not surprisingly, she did not recognize the artist's signature and, after consulting with a friend, does not think the pictures are of St. Emilion.










The sketches have all been "contained" within an area which appears to have been embossed in the thick paper on which the sketches are drawn. Only the signature and the characteristic small sketches are on the borders of the "mat."

The horse-drawn cart in this picture makes me think of a farmer bringing his produce to a town market day. 











This is my favorite of the three drawings. 


















I doubt that these drawings are of any great monetary value, but I would like to know more about the
artist and his setting.  I have no idea where to continue my search for information.

Any ideas?