William Didier-Pouget (French, 1864-1959). "Les Lucilles", 1888. Medium: oil on mahogany. Signed & dated, lower right. Titled in artist's hand & dated verso. Dimensions: 9" x 19". Framed: 13" x 23". Discovered in a local auction in the 1970’s, this French painting probably made its way to RI during a grand tour sojourn at the end of the 19th century by a prominent local couple enjoying the prestige of hanging a French painter in their Victorian home. The artist William Didier-Pouget began his formal art training at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in his birth city, Toulouse. He later studied at the Academy of Paris under the famed French landscape painter, Jean Baudit. It was the countryside of southern France that eventually led Didier-Pouget to focus on light and color in his landscapes. During his career, he developed a niche for translating the beauty of a field of flowers, a forest filled with trees, heathers with fog, plateaus in the Creuse valley, and the Dordogne river, onto a canvas. He found success participating in various exhibitions, and after winning the gold medal in 1913 at the Universal Exposition, he was selected as a member of the Jury as well as a permanent senior member of the Societe des Artistes Francais.This painting is from the Thomas and Teresa Russell collection of overlooked American region artists assembled in the 1970’s.

Condition: Good. Recently professionally restored.

13 x 23 in

3 lb