Marie Cazin, 'Evening', probably about 1884-8

Marie Cazin (née Guillet) was an accomplished painter, sculptor and ceramicist. Her reputation has, unfairly, faded into obscurity, despite a successful career in which she exhibited at the Paris Salon from 1876 to 1882, initially oil paintings and later sculptural works. In 1874 and 1878 she showed paintings at the Royal Academy in London. In 1887 she exhibited with Les XX, an avant-garde Belgian group.

This is a subtle and engaging work. It demonstrates a powerful simplicity and confidence, in particular in the colour and tone. Buildings in the distance are lit up by a large fire. The fire is painted with bravura impasto so that the flames seem to be dancing upwards. In contrast to the brightness of the fire, the middle ground is painted with black and purple hues. These are echoed in the colour of the sky, fading into blocks of earth tones in the foreground. The distance from the fire and the lack of human figures suggest that the painter was a viewer rather than a participant in the scene.

Cazin was the daughter of Louis Claude Guillet, a painter and draughtsman. For centuries many female artists received their earliest training from family members, and this seems to have been the case with Cazin. Her first formal training was from Juliette Peyrol Bonheur, sister of Rosa Bonheur. It can be no coincidence that Cazin was taught by a female artist, while both Bonheur sisters had been taught and encouraged by their father. In France, until the mid-1800s, women were not admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts. This excluded them from exhibiting their work at the Salon. Although this situation was changing while Cazin was studying and women were increasingly allowed into art schools, the art world continued to heavily favour men over women.

It has been suggested that it was in Bonheur’s studio that the young Cazin discovered working in bronze, She subsequently studied with the painter Jean-Charles Cazin and they would marry in 1868. It is not clear if Jean-Charles’s career helped or hindered that of his wife.

Soon after they were married, Jean-Charles Cazin was appointed the curator of the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Tours, where they both lived until the Franco-Prussian War, when they fled to England. In London, she and her husband worked at the Fulham Potteries. During this period, both their practices moved towards the applied arts. Marie and Jean-Charles produced salt-glazed ceramics in a Japonisme style. With its blocks of colour and cool tone, this painting may also owe something to Japanese ukiyo-e prints.

The location of the landscape in this painting is not known. It has been suggested that it might be in Italy. Between 1884 and 1888 the couple travelled in Italy, spending most of their time in and around Pisa.