Caught in the web from a very young age, Daniel Balay today tries to escape the framework of a battered existence by providing animals with the care that he so rarely received from others.
A new chapter in his life that he hopes to write when he is just 50 years old.
A very eventful half-century that he nevertheless recounts with a smile at the La Louve Mediation Center, a barracks for those who no longer have a roof over their head in the wilderness in Cannet-des-Maures, formerly devolved to Péchiney.
Hospital at one year
“I was born in Épinal, in the Vosges, but in my first year I ended up in the military hospital in a sad state… I then had to be taken away from my parents for abuse.… (he details the operations he had to undergo as a baby and which still mark him in his flesh today, Editor's note). I drew and sculpted very early. My first portrait was that of one of my educators at the orphanage in Haute-Marne. This good stroke of the pencil was used by me to decorate cakes and others, when at 12 years old I ended up as an apprentice with a baker and pastry chef after being kicked out of school in CM2. He became my tutor and bought me my first oil paintings.”unfolds Daniel, still a little trembling, near the hearth of the community center which has hosted him since October.
The end of two years spent surviving on the streets. A descent into hell after thirty years of decorating churches…
Before this chapter bathed in epistles, Daniel recounts his young years in the army. At 16 years old, he is involved in the 2e foreign infantry regiment whose companies constitute the pillar of the Foreign Legion.
“I lived in Kosovo before ending up as an instructor in Alsace. There, I went down to the South, to Hyères. We were looking for people to create frescoes in the parish of Saint-Raymond Nonnat du Pradet. I showed one of my reproductions of Caravaggio and they took. It suited me. As a child I liked churches. Cemeteries too. Peaceful places when I left the orphanage!”, he laughs.
Crash romain
The story will continue at the church of Bandol where Daniel notably creates a miraculous fishing scene inspired by the work of Raphaël and trompe-l'oeil on boxes.
“At that time I had the privilege of spending more than a month in the Vatican art gallery to study the faces, postures, etc. of the masterpieces in the pontifical collections”he lights up. Before the crash, still in Rome, against a car which hits him and from which emerges the body mutilated with multiple fractures…
When he goes back up the slope, there is no longer any question of climbing on scaffolding, he “tinkers” a little more but the creative flame fades and to top it all off Daniel pays for his lack of “official status”...
“I was abandoned by the diocese in my administrative procedures…No coverage or pension, nothing! I lost everything at that time, until I found myself on the street…”, he laments.
Milk paint!
Despite everything, he saved his paintings stored in a friend's old henhouse. Most followed him to the Cannet home, packed in a shed.
He extracts marvels straight out of the Italian Renaissance “signed” by Raphael, Titian and this breathtaking large format from Christ at the column according to Caravaggio.
In these ancient treasures, a panorama of the Saint-Tropez port stands out and demonstrates his mastery of different styles as well as his inventiveness.
“It's a milk paint on wood! I mixed ocher pigments from Roussillon with cow's milk. As it dries, with fermentation we obtain variations in tones “old fashioned”, shows Daniel, radiant.
“He is a genius painter who deserves to find work as quickly as possible!”pleads the director of the home, Myriam Alderton.
If he still wants to paint – except for the church! – and even completed a Var order of three family portraits “in the style of great Italian masters”, the desire is elsewhere now.
Turn the page
“These paintings are a part of my history, but I would like organize a sale to get rid of it. I'm tired of carrying them around… Now I would especially like to finish pass the veterinary assistant diploma and work with horses. It's not in my character to remain inactive… I might as well shoot myself! But you have to find the money to pay for these courses…”
At these words, Daniel's eyes, who are stuck at the RSA while waiting for social housing, cloud up. A Renaissance angel passes by and he regains all the determination that drives him to now favor the horse over the easel.
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