The figure of the Arles painter, Antoine Raspal (1738-1811), Jacques Réattu’s uncle, is the theme of a double exhibition by the musée Musée Réattu and Fragonard Parfumeur. It is being held at the Jean-Honoré Fragonard Museum in Grasse from 12 May to 16 September, and at the Musée Réattu from 7 October 2017 to 7 January 2018. With the support of this emblematic Provençal company, whose founders, Hélène and Jean-François Costa were great collectors of 18th century provençal painters, the exhibition presents the latest research on a painter who has all too easily been dismissed as “Antoine Raspal, the painter of Arles women.”It is the most important monographic exhibition ever devoted to a painter who stands out as rare and different in the artistic landscape of 18th century Provence. It sets out to rediscover his most famous works in relation to other paintings, some of which have never before been shown in public. In keeping with the exhibitions, Jacques Réattu, arelatensis - Dream of an artist and Antonelle, an Arlesian in the French Revolution, 1747-1817, the exhibition Antoine Raspal. Pinxit examines yet another facet of Arles’ social and artistic history: one that is still bound by and sensitive to the codes of the Ancien Régime, the haute bourgeoisie and the aristocracy of Provence, who made up most of Raspal’s clients just as the French Revolution was getting underway. As heir to a classical tradition (the artist trained in Paris between 1762 and 1768), Raspal was capable of tackling any subject - including academy, drapery, scenes inspired by Antiquity and religious themes. Yet it was in the far more intimate production of portraits and everyday scenes that Antoine Raspal found his individuality as a painter. Antoine Raspal excelled in the art of the detail, in representing materials, particularly textiles, and it was with this remarkable skill he copied the garments created by his sisters in their Arles dressmaking shop. The corpus of known work, the lion’s share of which is in the Musée Réattu - distinguishes him as a rare and significant artist who has stirred curiosity in collectors, art lovers and the museums of the region since the 19th century. Beyond his unforgettable portraits of Arlesien ladies, Raspal reveals an unexpectedly varied body of works made up of religious compositions and consular commissions. Among these is a major work on the theme of the life of the Virgin, restored for the occasion and on show to the public for the first time.
