The Mirandaise association for “the Renewal of the bastide” recently acquired, at auction, a painting by the landscape painter Jules Guédy (Grenoble 1805 – Pau 1876), representing a panoramic view of Mirande at daybreak. This painting, dated 1874, appeared as a precious testimony to the appearance of the city at the beginning of the Third Republic.
How can we not be sensitive to this landscape in the rising sun, with the mist dissipating above the Baïse, the hills with the Pyrenees in the background, the two windmills which have disappeared today, the church, the sub-prefecture and the courthouse just built?
The deliberations of the municipal council of the town of Mirande in 1869 mention several letters from the artist offering his services to the town.
The desire of the association, now owner of the canvas, is to make it accessible to the widest public in optimal presentation and security conditions.
A beautiful article by Pierre Tajan (instigator of the purchase), in No. 109 of the magazine “Les Trois Miroirs” published by the association, will inform the curious about the acquisition and the artist. Works by Jules Guédy can be seen in the museums of Grenoble and Pau and at the Museum of the Americas in Auch.
