ERNEST CHARTON THIESSEN DE TREVILLE Sens, 1816 - 1877, Buenos Aires

Wild bull with two lassos Canvas Signed and localized lower right ER. CHARTON / Souvenir du CHILI 43.5 x 73 cm - 17 5/16 x 28 3/4 in. Wild bull with two lassos, oil on canvas, signed and localized lower right PROVENANCE Cellérier family from the outset, then by descent. Born in Sens in 1816 to a family of modest origins1, nothing seemed to predestine Ernest Charton to a life as an itinerant painter at the ends of the earth. Little information has come down to us about him, but he does appear to have established himself for a time in Le Havre between 1838 and 1839, where he ran a novelty shop2. In 1844, he was in Paris and Charles Gleyre (1806 - 1874) applied to the École des Beaux-Arts. Mentioned only once in the register of competition minutes3 , Charton does not appear to have been a very diligent student. Planning a trip to South America as early as 1845, he set off alone for Chile in January 1847. In 1848, he continued on to California, which he may never have reached, his ship having been stolen during a stopover in the Galapagos Islands4. By 1849, he was in Ecuador, where he briefly ran a small painting school. For almost three years, he continued to travel around Chile, visiting the surrounding area and Peru, which he criss-crossed for a time, no doubt accompanied in his wanderings by compatriots such as Léonce Angrand (1808 - 1886) and Paul Marcoy (1815 - 1887)5. In 1852, he returned to France for a short time. Enriched by his adventures, he published a few articles in L'Illustration or the Magasin Pittoresque, edited by his brother Édouard (1807 - 1890), reporting and illustrating his travel tales, nourished by his observations and, already, his love for what he had discovered of the South American continent. In 1855, he set sail again for Chile, this time taking his wife and children with him. They settled in a small street in Santiago, and Ernest opened a shop selling painting and drawing supplies, as well as paintings. as well as offering courses and running a photography workshop6. Later, he visited Ecuador and Peru, then Argentina, where he died in December 1877. Little-known until recently, a collection of the painter's travel souvenirs went under the hammer at auction7, as did his View of Valparaiso8 , which he illustrated from a vantage point overlooking the city and its bay. Among the press clippings and illustrations contained in the souvenir lot, two photographs of the paintings we are presenting today can be found (Fig. 1-2). This allows us to note that, no doubt in a concern for topographical truth, the artist relied on his photographs to perfect the representation of the chosen locations. This quest for authenticity continued in the moments of life he observed, the native men and women who populated his daily life and whom we come across in his paintings. In 1871, his brother Edouard borrowed the Lazo scene to illustrate an article in the Magasin pittoresque9 , which he edited (Fig. 3). Anonymous, as was the magazine's custom, the article recounts the custom of hunting wild oxen by Gauchos and Puelches, herdsmen on the South American pampas. The author specifies that the scene takes place "in the vicinity of the vast foothills [sic] of the nearby Cordilleras of Chile". Two riders on horseback try to subdue a bull, which they hold back by the horns in extremis, preventing it from carrying off a woman and her two children in its fury. As they flee, one of them loses his straw hat, while the other almost uncovers his mother's bosom by clinging to her bodice, adding to the scene's swirling dynamics. Dust flies, gestures are brisk, and it's a split second that the painter uses to illustrate the lives of these herdsmen. Life on the Calicanto Bridge (Fig. 4) is far more peaceful. Situated on one side of the riverbank, the clear weather is ideal for strolling. Below, caravans travel up the almost dry Mapocho, the whole landscape standing out against the rugged backdrop of the Andes. The documentary interest here is heightened by the fact that the bridge was demolished in 1888, and there are few - if any - surviving paintings of it. Santiago must have been a marvellous playground for the painter, who took his easel out and about, as evidenced by other of his works preserved in Chile, such as a View of the Cañada (Fig. 5), the district to which the Calicanto bridge led, or the one of