ENGUERRAND QUARTON (1410-15? - 1466)
Mont Ventoux (1, 911 m - 6, 270ft)
France (Provence)
1a. The Coronation of the Virgin, 1453-54 (detail of the Mont Ventoux behind the Golgotha
1b. The Coronation of the Virgin, 1453-54, Tempera on panel, Pierre de Luxembourg Museum, Villeneuve-lez-Avignon
2. Avignon Pieta or Villeneuve Pieta, 1455, Tempera and gold on walnut, Louvre Museum, Paris
About the paintings
Since the 15th century, Mont Ventoux, because of the vicinity of Avignon, the Popes city, has been the subject of many paintings and engravings, either as a main subject or in the background landscape.
Its oldest and very first representation can be found in The Coronation of the Virgin (1b above) painted circa 1453-54 by Enguerrand Quarton. This panel was formerly used to adorn the chapel of the Cartusian monastery of Villeneuve-lez-Avignon; it is currently preserved in the Musée Pierre-de-Luxembourg in that same city. The Mont Ventoux appears at the bottom of the painting on the left of Golgotha (see enlargement 1a) just behind the walls of the city of Villeneuve lez Avignon and its Collegiale church; in the middle, the Rhone river separating Villeneuve from a bigger city on the other bank, which is Avignon, clearly recognizable with its circular walls and its famous Pope's Palace (painted in red here like the religious monuments were at that time), exactly like everything is still geographically situated nowadays.If we except the fact it is not the good location, some experts said that the mountain represented could be the Sainte Victoire, the one Paul Cézanne painted such a lot of time a few centuries later) . Why not but after all ? Enguerrand Quarton lived in Aix-en-Provence at theKing René's court and had enough times to observe this mountain under every angles and to paint it. It could be the Sainte Victoire, and it ressembles to it by some aspects, but it is more likely the Mont Ventoux to which the shape of the mountain painted ressembles more. It should be as well a mix of the both mountains, the geographical accuracy of landscape rendering being not a characteristic of this period.
But... the Sainte-Victoire is not situated near Avignon or behind Villeneuve les Avignon, while the Ventoux is ! The Sainte Victoire is near Aix-en-Provence, 70 km off. Actually, the Sainte Victoire is situated on the opposite bank of the Rhone River. that the one shown in that painting...
Another painting, The Avignon Pieta (2) sometimes called The Villeneuve Pieta, painted one year later, in 1455, attributed to the same Enguerrand Quarton and currently exhibited at the Louvre Museum in Paris, also clearly represents Mont Ventoux, visible on the extreme right side of the composition, next to the red coat of Maria Magdelena.
The painter
Enguerrand Quarton (or Charonton) (c. 1410- 1415– 1466) was a French painter and manuscript illuminator very representative of the distinctive French style of that time. Quarton began to work in the Netherlands. Then he moved to Aix-en-Provence and Arles in 1446, and then in Avignon, where he was based from 1447 until his death there in about 1466. In Avignon and Villeneuve les Avignon he pain ted The Coronation of the Virgin (1453-54) and the Avignon Pieta (1455).
Provence at this time had some of the most impressive painters in France, like Nicolas Froment or Barthélemy d'Eyck, who both appear to have collaborated with Quarton. The Popes and Anti-Popes were no longer living in Avignon, but it remained Papal territory, and the city contained many Italian merchants.
Except for some banners, no works by Quarton for René of Anjou, the King René, ruler of most of Provence, are documented, although King René was a keen patron of the arts who employed d'Eyck for many years and patronised several other artists. Many of Quarton's clients were important figures in René's court and administration, like the Chancellor of Provence who commissioned the Missal of Jean des Martins.Six paintings by Quarton are documented, of which only two survive. His two documented works are the remarkable Coronation of the Virgin (1453–54) (above) and The Virgin of Mercy (1452, Musée Condé, Chantilly). Two smaller altarpieces are also attributed to him. The famous Avignon Pieta is given also by the Louvre Museum like "probably painted and attribuated to " Enguerrant Quarton. A number of miniatures in illuminated manuscripts have been ascribed to Quarton, whose style has many distinctive features, in colouring, modelling and iconography.
Mont Ventoux (Ventor in Latin) is located in the French department of Vaucluse (Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur). Culminating at 1,911 meters - 6, 270 ft, it is about 25 kilometers long on an east-west for 15 kilometers wide on a north-south axis. Nicknamed the Giant of Provence, it is the culmination of the Monts du Vaucluse, the ultimate link of the Southern Alps and the highest peak of Vaucluse. Its geographical isolation makes it visible over great distances.
Mont Ventoux is as well the linguistic border between the north and south-Occitan.
Its mainly calcareous nature is responsible, in its top part, its deep white color in every season and intense karstification due to erosion by water, with the presence of numerous scree on the south face. Precipitation is particularly abundant in spring and fall. Rainwater seeps into galleries and reflects the level of the variable flow resurgences such as Fontaine de Vaucluse or Source du Groseau.
Mont Ventoux is subject to a Mediterranean dominant weather, sometimes causing scorching temperatures during summer, the altitude offering a wide variety of climates, to the top (continental influence of mountain type), through a temperate climate (mid-slopes). In addition, the north wind can be very violent and the Mistral blows almost half part of the year.
This particular geomorphology and climate make it a rich and fragile environmental site consisting of many levels of vegetation. It is s a biosphere reserve by UNESCO and Natura 2000 site.
If human settlements are found in the foothills in prehistoric times, the first ascent to the summit would work on 26 April 1336, the poet Petrarch from Malaucène on the northern slope. It opens the way later in numerous scientific studies.
Thereafter, for nearly six centuries, Mont Ventoux has been intensely deforested to provide the shipbuilding in Toulon, charcoal manufacturers and sheep farmers. During World War II, the mountain is home to the Ventoux maquis, the french Resistance against Nazis.
Since 1966, the summit is topped with an observation tower over forty meters high topped by a TV and satellite antenna.
While sheep farming has almost disappeared, beekeeping, gardening (especially cherries), viticulture, harvesting of mushrooms including truffles and, to a lesser extent, lavender, are still practiced.
Mont Ventoux is an important symbolic figure of Provence that fed oral or literary works and artistic performances or pictorial map.
