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Mario Cavaglieri ( Rovigo 1887 - Peyloubčre F 1969 )

Often described as 'the most French of the Italian painters', Mario Cavaglieri was born in Rovigo, Italy in 1887 of a wealthy Jewish family.  He trained as a painter and by the age of 20 was already holding exhibitions of his work.  In 1911 he met Giulietta who was to be his model, his inspiration and ten years later, his wife.  In 1925, for reasons he preferred to keep to himself, Cavaglieri moved to France where he purchased the Domaine de Peyloubčre, only leaving for a period during the war when, as a Jew and an Italian, he felt a vulnerability which led him back to his roots and family.  He returned to France in 1946 and died peacefully at Peyloubčre in 1969.

Cavaglieri's painting is characterized by bold brush strokes and a firm skill with line and design.  Whether the subject is decadent and bourgeois, as in his early years, or nature bathed in sunlight, as in his later life at Peyloubčre, his colours are vivid, pure and dramatic.  Better known in Italy and the United States,  the works of Cavaglieri have nevertheless been exhibited in France on several occasions and his personal collection, recently left to the Mairie of Auch, now forms the basis of a permanent exhibition in the town.  The exhibition includes several paintings of Peyloubčre including the waterfall, the Venetian bedroom and a tea party in the original dining room, now part of one of the holiday cottages.

Just as Cavaglieri recorded the terraces and gardens, salons and inhabitants of Peyloubčre on canvas, so too he imprinted his own history, philosophy and passion upon the house itself.  He literally painted the house, and the ceilings, walls and cupboards of the Manoir are alive with his imaginative paintings full of allegory, myth and symbols and scenes reflecting his Italian origin and inspiration.