This painting, which is not dated, was painted on the occasion of a visit by the artist in Clairac to his Gautier cousins (Coulon). In the foreground, a barrel reminds us that vines and wine were important in the local economy; in the background, a man leaning on his cane gives a bit of humanity to the painting. At the corner of Rue Porte-Pinte, the wheel kicker designed to protect the corner of the house from cartwheels is clearly visible. In the background, a black silhouette is seen in the narrow rue Montesquieu that leads to the former museum.
René Mailhe was born in Bordeaux on October 25, 1882. Appointed teacher in Marennes (Charente-Maritime), he married Jeanne Louise Alice Éva Charrier on March 29, 1910. Her mother, Jeanne Régade, was born in Clairac (in 1864) and her maternal grandmother, Jeanne Dauman, in Longueville.
Enlisted as a volunteer in 1901, a reserve lieutenant in 1913, he joined the 147th Bayonne infantry regiment at the time of the general mobilisation. Wounded in April 1915, he is placed at the disposal of the General of the 15th Military Region for the control of the press in Marseille. He retired first to Marennes in 1919, to Aix-en-Provence and then to Toulon where he died on 18 August 1953.
Painter recognized in Provence, he participated in many exhibitions organized by the Société des amis des arts d'Aix-en-Provence ; he also responded to commissions from the Musée de la Marine in Toulon. Any Clairacais who can clarify his biography should contact the Friends of Clairac. (Click here)
In the 1950s and 1960s, Marcel and Léon lived there: the first was a mason and the second sold milk on Saffin Street. Its wide eaves protected the facade from the weather. Unfortunately, a restoration that can be described as excessive in the 1960s made it partly unrecognizable; a photograph found by Yvette Coustet makes it possible to observe it during the work, when the half-timbering began to be cleared. The ground floor and the first floor were hardly cemented, and the wooden sections of the second floor became very mechanical. Thanks to a painting by Alexandre de Lalobbe, we can see the house from another angle: from the small street Montesquieu, and at the back, the old house called “Le Fort”, demolished in the 1970's shortly after its sale; in the foreground, a black cat is enjoying the sun.…
