Jean-Paul Laurens' attachment to his southern identity clearly emerges in his works. Catharism and the inquisition in Languedoc are the chosen themes in the cycle that began with La Délivrance des emmurés de Carcassonne (Freeing of the imprisoned in Carcassonne) (1879). The medieval occitanian civilisation is more broadly evoked in some of his other works, such as Les Sept Troubadours (1890) - a delicate and graceful painting on the founding of the "Jeux Floraux" society. He also liked to use the same motifs in his illustrations such as "The excommunication of Raymond, count of Toulouse", a work on the popular history of the town (1898), or "Saint Louis, Bishop of Toulouse, welcoming the poor to his table" and in his re-edition of Renan's "The Imitation of Jesus Christ" (1878).
Laurens later became involved in a movement that marked a certain cultural revival in the south of France. As homage to his land, he painted a powerful rustic fresco entitled Lauraguais (1897). This painting reveals that certain southern poets, like his compatriot Auguste Fourès, author of Cants del soulelh, also fuelled his inspiration. While the Félibrige movement praised the revival of the "Oc" dialect and defended the identity of southern culture, Laurens actually spoke the dialect in private and captioned his compositions in the Capitole in the language of Oc.
Indeed, a flourishing artistic milieu existed in this region with personalities like the sculptor Alexandre Falguière and the painters Benjamin-Constant and Henri Martin. Desirous of promoting these Languedoc artists, Laurens participated in the Cadets de Gascogne tour (1898), which was his way of contributing to the revival. It was at this moment that the "salle des Illustres" in the Toulouse Capitole was inaugurated and the status of "Elder" among Toulouse painters was bestowed upon Laurens.
Lying at the heart of southern identity and bearer of pride as well as painful memories is the Albigensian crusade - a crusade that adorns the walls in the decorations of the Capitole. La Muraille (The Wall) (1895) portrays the town defending itself against the crusading armies led by Simon de Montfort while in Montfort contre Toulouse (Montfort against Toulouse) (1899), the woman who, according to the chronicles, threw the fateful stone which killed him, is glorified in the allegory of the lion and the lamb. The regional press considers one of these decorative works as the most beautiful murals imaginable, "la lutte héroïque du Midi contre les barbares du nord " (The south's heroic struggle against the barbarians of the north).
Laurens never cut off from his roots even while living in Paris where he used to socialise with his fellow southern compatriots in formal and informal circles. He finally returned to his place of birth and completed a decorative work entitled Ecce Homo (1920) in a chapel in the church of Fourquevaux. When he died, the local press unanimously agreed that this was a period of great mourning for French art and for the Toulouse school of art of which he was surely the most illustrious representative.
|
