EMILE GODCHAUX (1860-1938)
The Pic du Midi d'Ossau (2, 848 m - 9,462 ft)
France
Painted in 1890
The Pic du Midi d'Ossau (2, 848m-9,462 ft) not to be confused with the Pic du Midi de Bigorre is a mountain rising above the Ossau Valley in the French Pyrenees. Despite possessing neither a glacier nor, in the context of the range, a particularly high summit, its distinctive shape makes it a symbol of the French side of the Pyrenees. This familiar shape also makes it easily recognisable from afar, and it is particularly distinctive from the Boulevard des Pyrénées in Pau, some 55 km to the north.
The Pic du Midi d'Ossau lies within the commune of Laruns, in the département of Pyrénées Atlantiques and the Aquitaine region of France. It lies within the fully protected area of the Pyrenees National Park. As normally seen from the north, the mountain presents itself as having two distinct peaks, although from the south two other summits are also visible. It stands separate from any surrounding peaks, being largely surrounded by the valleys of the Gave de Bious, to the west, and the Gave du Brousset, to the east. These two mountain streams come together in the hamlet of Gabas at the foot of the mountain's northern slopes, to form the Gave d'Ossau.
The valley of Ossau is placed in the Béarnaises Pyrénées, between la vallée d'Aspe and the Vallée de Gavarnie, from Rébénacq to the French-Spanish frontier (Col du Portalet). The Col d'Aubisque closes the valley to the east. The villages (from N to S) of the high Ossau are: Bilhères, Bielle, Béon, Bélesten, Gère-Bélesten, Aste-Béon, Louvie-Soubiron, Béost, Assouste, Aas, Laruns, Eaux-Bonnes, Gourette, Eaux-Chaudes, Goust, Gabas, Arouste-Fabréges and Pont de Camps.
The Pic du Midi d'Ossau was reputedly first climbed in 1552 by an expedition led by François de Foix-Candale, later to become the Bishop of Aire. Although the success of this first climb is disputed, it is known that the mountain had been successfully climbed by 1787 when a military surveyor noted that a triangulation cairn had been built on the summit. The first fully recorded climb was by Guillaume Delfau accompanied by Mathieu (a shepherd from Eaux-Bonnes) on October 2, 1797.
The mountain offers many routes of ascent; the voie normale is a serious scramble and rock climb with a grading of PD, II+, 550 m. It approaches the summit via the Refuge de Pombie, a Club Alpin Français owned mountain hut situated at 2,031 m - 6,663 ft, and requires most of a day to execute.
Two others refuges : Cabane Pyrenea Sports belonging to Société Pyrénées Sports at Pau, 25 places located on the NE shore of Lac de Bious-Artigues, and Cabane de Peyreget (1.950 m)
non guarded, 4 places located near Lac de Peyreget and W of Peyreget' little peak ridge.
Reference
The painter
Emile Godchaux is a french painter born in 1860. He is perhaps from the same the family than the sculptor Roger Godchaux. He is often confused with an other painter from Lyon, Alfred Godchaux, who painted at the same time on similar themes and in a fairly close manner.
Emile Godchaux was well-known from the Bordeaux junk dealers around 1900, due to the fact he used to sell his paintings in public places, putting sometimes them in the lottery, the painting being then the jackpot of a series of 10 or 20 tickets for 1 franc !
His favorite themes were the ports, the cliffs of the Normandy coast, the animated Atlantic beaches and fishing boats, the mountainous landscapes taken on the ground in the Pyrenees and Savoie, Venice. His skies are often tumultuous. His characters in costumes of fishermen or farmers of the end of the century. The material is beautiful, generous and dense, robust design in its schematic. The signing comes in two very different forms, one classic, a large and very readable layout, the other finely cut into the dough through a tip (some paintings bear two signatures). Some mystery still hangs over this prolific painter for which researches are ongoing.
Reference
- Galerie du Palais Gallien
