Sommerliche Flußlandschaft mit Tempelruine. Ca. 1785.
Oil on canvas.
Monogrammed "P.A.M." in rocks in lower right. 89 x 137 cm (35 x 53,9 in).

PROVENANCE: In 1971 acquired from Jeremy Ltd., London.
Private ownership Northern Germany.

Marchais was born in Paris in 1763 and lived in his hometown all his life. He specialized in landscape painting and was supported and influenced by his paternal friend Hubert Robert. He showed first works at the Paris Salon in 1793 and participated in following exhibitions up until 1849. The more surprising it is that works by Marchais are rarely known. Some are in possession of the Musée des Augustins in Toulouse and the Musée des Beaux Artes in Nantes. The two counterparts offered here show idealized landscapes with rich details and figures. [CB].