City of Clairac

It is undoubtedly one of Clairac's images that has always been one of the most widely circulated, thanks to the success of the book from which it was taken, published in the 19^th century, and often “boned” by antique dealers to sell his images individually. This is the Clairac slipway, at the bottom of the current rue Gambetta, seen from the suspension bridge created in 1832. At that time, the house you can see probably still belonged to the Balguerie family, who owned several warehouses on this site, from where the barges left for Bordeaux. In the 20^th century, the Clairacais knew it as the Dubois house, after its owner, a carpenter. Part of the facade has disappeared, and we can only guess at it today. Some remember that the lower building, on the right in the photograph below, was a bathing establishment…

In 1842-1844, La Guienne [sic] historique et monumentale was the first work on the history of our province; based on the notes of several of Alexandre Ducourneau's collaborators, the book is especially noteworthy for the quality of its 300 picturesque lithographs, recently republished by Éditions de l’Entre-deux-Mers. This publication was part of the great national movement launched by Prosper Mérimée when he was appointed Inspector of Historic Monuments in 1834.

If Charles Marionneau had not devoted an opuscule to Jean-Louis Gintrac in 1886, we would know little about the life of this painter. Born in Bordeaux, he was first a pupil of Jean-Paul Alaux, whose name is mentioned in the notice on the logis de Roche; he then joined the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. From 1831 to 1837, he took part in the famous Salons. When in 1842 Alexis Ducourneau launched his edition of La Guienne historique et monumentale, he called upon Gintrac, among others, to illustrate this regional encyclopedia. It was he who delivered the drawing illustrating Clairac, with this charming view; he knew the region well and made illustrations of Agen, Le Temple-sur-Lot, Monflanquin… He was close to several famous Bordeaux people at that time, such as the Balguerie-Stuttenberg, or the Bethmanns. He was also one of the friends of Alexandre du Sommerard, the collector who created the Cluny museum in Paris.