A new lease of life for “The Thau Lagoon and Mont Saint-Clair”
The painting "L'étang de Thau et le mont Saint-Clair" (The Thau Lagoon and Mount Saint-Clair), on display at the Marine Station for Coastal Environment in Sète, has undergone restoration work that has literally restored this canvas by Montpellier painter Max Leenhardt to its original condition. Marie Connan, curator and restorer of painted works, who was part of the team of professionals who carried out this mission, details the stages of this delicate work.
When you push open the door to the large room on the top floor of the marine station for coastal environments in Sète, the bay window opposite offers a magnificent view of the Thau lagoon. But if you turn your head to the left, another view of the lagoon opens up before you, every bit as majestic. A small fishing boat, a child with their feet in the water, Mont Saint-Clair in the background bathed in soft light... You are contemplating a work by the Montpellier painter Max Leenhardt, which, at 4.20 meters long and 1.65 meters high, occupies the entire length of the wall of the room, offering a double view of "The Thau Lagoon and Mont Saint-Clair." This is also the title of the painting, created in 1900 at the request of Armand Sabathier, the founder of the seaside resort, who was related to the painter. According to research by Isabelle Laborie, who wrote a thesis on Max Leenhardt's art history, the painter donated this painting to the resort free of charge.
The painting has adorned the walls of the building for over 120 years, in conditions that have not always been ideal for its preservation, leaving the work tarnished by time. An unidentified accident even pierced the painting, causing it to lose some of its splendor. "In 2024, the restoration of the work was scheduled in consultation with the station team, thanks to €23,000 in funding from the UM," explains Caroline Ducourau, director of scientific culture and historical heritage. Marie Connan, curator and restorer of painted works, will take on this delicate task with her colleagues Danièle Amoroso, Alexandra Deneux, Séverine Padiolleau, and Thierry Martel (for removal and reinstallation).
A surprise frieze
In July 2024, the restoration team took down the painting to assess the scale of the task ahead. And there, to their surprise, hidden around the canvas, folded behind a wooden frame, was a frieze depicting sea creatures entangled in seaweed. "To make it easier to fold onto the frame, the four corners of the canvas had simply been cut off, " recalls Marie Connan. She and her team then decided to restore the work to its original format by reintegrating the missing pieces of canvas.
But to do this, and to carry out the entire conservation and restoration process, they had to take the painting to the Amoroso Waldeis workshop in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon. "Given its size, it quickly became too complicated to move it as it was, so we removed the canvas from its wooden frame after applying temporary surface protection and rolling it up." And that's where the work began .
Painting “lasagna”
"It's important to note that Max Leenhardt used a particular technique, applying paint in thick, overlapping layers that turned the painting into a veritable 'lasagna' of paint, which increases the risk of losing material, as we saw, for example, on the child's head," explains the restorer. And when you look closely, the work reveals a network of cracks, "a natural aging process that cannot be prevented, just as you cannot prevent wrinkles from appearing on the skin over time, " says Marie Connan.
Unable to correct the wrinkles in the painting, the restorers set about "stretching and relaxing" the canvas in order to flatten the work and limit the risk of further material loss, before filling in the areas where the paint had disappeared. "We also cleaned the surface to remove dust, drips, and runs and restore some of the colors' original brilliance." This task was made difficult by the nature of the oil-based, unvarnished paint. "We have to achieve the same level of shine as the original canvas during the retouching phase, " explains Marie Connan. And while the initial shine has been preserved, the colors and light have been revived by this rejuvenation. The difference is immediately apparent to regular visitors to the marine station who have seen this work before and after its restoration.
Semi-illusionist restoration
Another striking difference is the famous frieze framing the canvas, which conservators and restorers have reconstructed. Unable to determine what was depicted in these blind spots, the specialists had to allow themselves a slight degree of interpretation in order to reconstruct the work as it probably looked. "We proposed what is known as a semi-illusionist restoration: up close, you can see the difference between the added parts and the original, but from a distance, you can't tell."
This extensive and technically complex restoration work will enable the painting to return to the walls of the marine station a year later, in July 2025, offering visitors that famous double view of the Thau lagoon. This event may be a precursor to others, as Caroline Ducourau hopes: "There is significant cultural heritage at the marine station, including certain paintings that also deserve to be restored."
