Les murailles de Darvazah et le cimetière de Téhéran

Original drawing and wash by Jules Laurens. Date and place inscribed in black pencil by the artist at the top right of the work (November 1848). Presented in an antique varnished and gilt wooden frame, under glass. Minor black mark at the upper left corner and a very small imperfection at the lower right corner; overall, a well-preserved piece.

Jules Joseph Auguste Laurens was a painter and lithographer, born in Carpentras on 27 July 1825, died in Saint-Didier on 5 May 1901. From a family of five children, Jules joined at the age of twelve his elder brother, Jean-Joseph Bonaventure Laurens, who had settled in Montpellier.  He enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts in Montpellier, alongside Alexandre Cabanel, and mingled with the artistic circles of his brother. From 1842 to 1846, he stayed in Paris to complete his training, admitted fifth out of 600 at the École des Beaux-Arts, and worked in the studio of the painter Paul Delaroche. From 1846 to 1849, he traveled as a draftsman through Turkey and Persia, as part of a scientific mission led by the geographer Hommaire de Hell. Despite the mission’s failure (Hommaire de Hell’s death, unpaid work), Jules returned with several hundred sketches, drawings, and watercolors that nourished his artistic activity. These portfolios are now preserved at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, in Avignon, and in Carpentras (Bibliothèque Inguimbertine and museums). From this journey, he also brought back works of Qajar art, later donated to the Musée Calvet in Avignon and the museum in Carpentras. Upon his return to the Comtat, he contributed to the development of the Carpentras library-museum. A collector, he donated numerous notable works by recognized contemporary artists (Victor Hugo, Ingres, Auguste Bonheur, Eugène Cicéri, Gustave Doré, etc.). Known for his Orientalist paintings and portraits of peasants (from Auvergne and Comtat), it is in landscape art that he distinguished himself, a follower of Corot and the Barbizon school.