[From the Community Collection, a public gallery for art in Agincourt, Iowa]

VAUBAN, Marie-Louise-Clotilde (1881-1944)

Près du Canal du Midi

c1905

oil on canvas panel / 8 inches by 10 inches

The southern French city of Pau, in the foothills of the Pyrenees, was popular with both British and American tourists during the 19th century. Mary Todd Lincoln lived there for a few years in the late 1870s. Vauban, a native of Pau and self-taught Impressionist, never permitted her work to be exhibited. “Près du Canal du Midi” was acquired from her estate sale by tourists passing through Pau on the way to Bordeaux and passage home. It was an anonymous gift to the collection.