Oil on wooden panel representing a mountain landscape of the French Alps. It is the passage of Moûtiers, famous for being the place chosen by the Carthaginian general Hannibal and his army of 30,000 men, 37 elephants and 15,000 horses to cross the Alps in October 218 BC at the start of the Second Punic War, with the intention of invading Italy and delivering a fatal blow to Rome. An annotation on the back identifies the title of the work, La route d'Annibal à Moûtiers.
Louis François Lachat was a French painter born on February 24, 1873 in Paris. He studied with landscape artists Léon Broquet (1869-1935) and Emile Octave Denis Victor Guillonnet (1872-1967). In 1906, he exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants then, from 1912, at the Salon des Artistes Français, is especially known for his landscapes around Paris and in particular the valleys and mountains of Savoy. He was mobilized during the First World War as an infantry sergeant, where he was wounded. In 1919, he participated in the exhibition work in favor of the war, organized by the Society of French Artists and the National Society of Fine Arts. In 1933, he was appointed director-curator of the Annecy museum (Haute-Savoie) where he modernized and updated the museum's methods and collections. After the outbreak of World War II in 1941, he was removed from office by the authorities of the Vichy regime for his affiliation to Freemasonry. He moved to his family residence in Châtillon-sous-Bagneux, near Paris, where he died in 1948.
Sources: Benezit, Dictionary of Artists; Musée d'Annecy; Archives de France.
Artist: Louis Lachat (1873-1948).
Signed and dated in the lower-left corner. Title on back
Medium: Oil on wood panel.
Condition: Very good condition.
Dimensions: 59 x 75 cm. / 23 ¼ x 29 ½ in.
Frame: 71 x 87 cm. / 28 x 34 ¼ in. Wood. Contemporary. Very good condition with minor signs of wear.
Origin: France.
