The Bridge at Labastide-du-Vert

In 1920 Henri Martin turned 60, and he was best known in France for enormous murals in public buildings, among them a whole hall of the Capitole, the town hall of Toulouse. This canvas comes from the quieter part of his year. In 1900 he had bought Marquayrol, a house above the village of Labastide-du-Vert in the Lot, and for the next four decades he came back there whenever the summer heat set in. The small river Vert runs under this two-arched stone bridge, and Martin painted it again and again, in different seasons and different light, always in his manner of small separate touches of colour. By the parapet, three villagers have stopped to talk, one sitting on the wall and two standing. The museum in Cahors bought the painting in 2012 from a private collection, with help from regional and national heritage funds.