LE PORT DE VENASQUE PAINTED BY CHARLES MERCEREAU

CHARLES MERCEREAU (1822-1864)

Le Port de Venasque (2,444 m - 8,0183ft)
France 

Seen from the french border (Luchon-Pyrénées)  in 1860

The mountain 

Le port de Vénasque  (2, 444 m - 8,0183ft), Puerto de Benasque (in spanish)  is a border pass in the Pyrenees, located on the crest Franco-Spanish, between the valley  of the Pique in north and the valley of the Esera in the south. Its altitude is 2,444 m, between the Pic de la Mine (2,707 m) to the east, and the Pic de la Sauvegarde (2,738 m) to the west.

The name "Port" (from Latin "Portus") refers in the Pyrenees to a neck (often devoid of paved road). Its name comes from the nearby Spanish town of Benasque, which was put in french language as Vénasque.  Some think it would be desirable to return to the port of Benasque name, but the current form is predominant in use.
From France, it connects the Vallée de la Pique, after many bends, by Booms (lakes) to the refuge of Vénasque. From Spain, it connects the Esera valley facing the Maladeta massif and its peaks of Maladeta, Aneto  (the highest peak of the Pyréneées) and cursed ; it overlooks the Hospice  of Vénasque further west.
Le port de Vénasque was used at all times for communications between Aragon (Spain) and Luchon (France). However, it has long preferred the wearing of Glère called the Old Port, located to the west, which was easier to access until the port Vénasque is finished, it is said, by orders of a count of Comminges, from 1325, to be taken by a horse ridden by a rider, and called from the new Port. It has been used by many armies from the Romans, to the armies of the Napoleonic wars and anti-Franco guerrillas during the invasion of the Val d'Aran attempt in 1944, as well as traders and smugglers, according to  many legends.
Le port de Vénasque was a hiking destination popular with the french society of the 19th century and is still a place of passage for hikers and climbers towards the Maladeta massif, the Posets and mountains of Luchon. The bibliophile and "inventor of Pyreneism" Henri Béraldi (One hundred years to the Pyrenees) boasted be mounted hundred times, which is probably not a record. A trail quickly leads to the top of the Pic de la Sauvegarde.

The illustrator

Charles Mercereau, engraver, lithographer born on 12/11/1822 in Rochefort and died on 03/27/1864 in Paris.  He was engineer  of the School of Arts and Manufactures and many of his prints were published after his death. His themes are his hometown (Rochefort) and its region including Royan, Pau (castle and region) Lourdes, Toulouse and part of the Pyrenees mountains. Contemporary of Bernadette Soubirou, he engraved the "apparition" in the Cave. It is also known to have treated many architectural and Masonic subjects.