Pierre Gabriel de Truchis de Varennes (1858–1925) - Villefranche-sur-mer

Pierre Gabriel Bernard de TRUCHIS de VARENNES
(Dole, 1858 – Dijon, 1925)

Villefranche-sur-Mer, the citadel

Oil on canvas
Signed and dated lower right
50 x 73cm
1888

Son of Henri de Truchis de Varennes (1827-1891), cavalry officer, and Marguerite Carrelet de Loisy (1836-1879), Pierre Gabriel de Truchis de Varennes was born on August 19, 1858, in Dole and is the brother of Albéric de Truchis de Varennes (1861-1944), French writer and historian who was permanent secretary of the Academy of Sciences, Belles-Lettres and Arts of Besançon and Franche-Comté.

Pierre de Truchis de Varennes is a painter, archaeologist, and architectural historian. A former student of the Jesuit college in Dole (Jura) then of the minor seminary of Yzeure (Allier), he signed up for one year of conditional military service. He was made lieutenant in 1897. At the same time, he enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts in Dijon and then in Paris (1880), where he was a student of Gérôme. He presented some works at the salons of 1882 then 1886 and 1887. After three study trips to Italy (1882-1884) then to Spain and Morocco (1884-1885), he married Eugénie Xaviéra Marguerite de Montillet de Grenaud in 1889. (1866-1934), who brought him the castle of Dracy-lès-Vitteaux (Côte-d'Or) as a dowry. He immediately began the restoration and reconstruction in close cooperation with the Dijon architect Aloys Oechslin (1858-1912) and in the neo-Gothic style. A specialist in Romanesque art, particularly regarding wall paintings, he is divisional inspector of the French Archaeological Society and presents several sites and buildings at the Archaeological Congress in 1907. He subsequently took on higher responsibilities with the Antiquities Commission of the Côte-d’Or department and the National Society of Antiquaries of France. Pierre Gabriel de Truchis de Varennes ended his career as Director of the Trocadéro museum and died in Dijon on June 18, 1925.


The Villefranche citadel or Saint-Elme citadel, is one of the first examples of bastillon fortification in Europe. The role of this citadel consists of protecting and controlling the port of Villefranche, then a possession of the Duchy of Savoy. During the conflicts between France and Savoy, between the 17th and 18th century, the place was attacked several times. In 1706, it was spared from destruction by an order from Louis XIV. Between the end of the 17th century and 1870, the work did not undergo any significant transformation. The citadel, which became French, was classified in 1861. Its waterfront was redeveloped as a coastal battery. It was subsequently kept as barracks.

Eugène Boudin will create the same composition, identical in every way to that of Pierre Gabriel de Truchis de Varennes few years later in 1892.

Sources: cths.fr