FRANCISQUE NOAILLY (1855-1942)
Jebel Chenoua (905 m - 2,969 ft)
Algeria
Jebel Chenoua (905 m - 2,969 ft) or Adrar n Cenwa in Berber or simply Le Chenoua, is a mountain located in the area of Tipaza, in the north of Algeria and part of the Atlas range. The Chenoua mountain range is, to the west, the highest point of the Algerian Sahel hills. It is surrounded to the east by the Nador wadi, Tipaza river and to the west by the El Hachem wadi, Cherchell river. By joining the sea, the Chenoua forms an alternation of cliffs and beaches, visible from the panoramic road that runs along the Mediterranean. The corniche Chenoua, which extends to Cherchell (Caesarea), has small picturesque beaches. Cape Chenoua or Ras el Amouch offers a view of the bay and a walk in the caves of the cliff. Marble is taken from the quarries of Chenoua
The painter
Louis François Marie Noailly, known as Francisque Noailly, was born in Marseille in 1855. After studying at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Marseille, he studied with William Bouguereau and Tony Robert-Fleury at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
From 1875, he performed his military service in Algeria in the Zouaves regiment. He gets married in Algiers and installs his workshop in the district of La Redoute.From its wide windows, the view stretched from Bouzaréah to Cape Matifou and plunged into the port which he could look at without ever being dazzled except by the beauty of the view.
Landscapes, portraits and especially scenes typical of Algerian life are treated with the same talent. The port, the city, the streets of the Algiers' Kasbah, the indigenous interiors and the Jebel are the frames. Vendor of donuts, child guiding a blind man, women returning from the source to their mechta, odalisques in a Moorish court, small trades ... these are his subjects. In his paintings, oil or watercolors, he plays with shadows, light and against the light: dockers unloading a swing or woman weaving a carpet.
He taught for many years at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, rue des generaux Morris, and was responsible, as director and professor, for the School of Decorative and Industrial Arts. A contemporary of Rochegrosse, Deshayes, Etienne Dinet and many others, he was part of the Orientalist painters' society and in 1935 received the first painting prize, Léon Cauvy, awarded by the Artistic Union of North Africa.
Francisque Noailly died in his house in Algiers, surrounded by his family, and left the memory of a right and sensitive man who hide his feelings under a grumpy aspect.