HENRI MARTIN (1860–1943)

• Auction, 20th Century Art and Design, Roseberys, London, 26 June 2018, lot 319 (titled *Portrait of a Farm Labourer*)
• Private collection, France (acquired at the previous sale)

• Possiblement : Salon, Société des Amis des Arts de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, Galerie de la Société des Amis des Arts de Bordeaux, 1897, n°403
• Possiblement : Exposition, Société des Amis des Arts de Douai, Douai, Hôtel de ville, 1897, n° inconnu
• Possiblement : Salon, Union artistique de Toulouse, Toulouse, Capitole, 1898, n°359
• Possiblement : Exposition internationale et coloniale, Rochefort-sur-Mer, 1898, n° inconnu

Marie-Anne Destrebecq-Martin directly links our work to another portrait of a man from Auvergne featuring the same subject. This painting—or ours, since it is impossible to determine precisely which one it is—was exhibited on numerous occasions in 1897–1898. It received high praise in La Dépêche on 5 June 1898: “We are permitted to speak of fine works, amongst which, as you will understand, we include L’Auvergnat and Derniers rayons by Mr Henri Martin. The general favour, I believe, went to L’Auvergnat. This peasant, worn down by years and years of hard labour, appearing in a way like a plant, a tree grown from the very soil he has tilled so much, was highly appealing with his weather-beaten, parchment-like face, his sly half-smile, and his vague, shrewd gaze. It is very good, it is perfect, and its success is understandable.”

Henri Martin (1860–1943), A Man from Auvergne, c. 1897, oil on an unknown support and in an unknown format