Élisabeth FORT-SIMEON born COLLIN (Active 1835 to 1865) - Crussol Castle

Élisabeth FORT-SIMEON born COLLIN
(Active from 1835 to 1865)

Crussol castle

Oil on paper mounted on canvas
Signed lower left
27 x 38 cm
Circa 1847

Pupil of Remond, she married the painter Siméon Fort probably in 1849.
Elisabeth therefore exhibited at the Paris Salon under her maiden name between 1835 and 1848 and then under her married woman name from 1850 to 1865.
She distinguished herself by her sending of very fine small paintings representing various landscapes brought back from her travels with, chronologically, views of the surroundings of Paris, Switzerland, the Dauphiné and the Piedmont.
This canvas, signed Collin, is titled Crussol castle on the stretcher. This suggests that this oil on paper was crunched during his travels in Ardèche in the year 1847.

The panorama represented is still well known to inhabitants of Ardèche to this day. It is the medieval fortress of Crussol, a castle built at the beginning of the 12th century on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Rhone plain facing the city of Valence.
The point of view chosen by the artist depicts the place from its eastern facade, seen from Guilherand-Granges.
The general appearance of the fortress has changed since 1847 following various events which came to alter the building namely a mine shot in 1855 which destroyed part of the castle and the lightning in 1952 which caused the destruction of a part of the remaining watch tower.