François-Auguste RAVIER (Lyon 1814 - Morestel 1895) Sunrise at Crémieu, circa 1860 Watercolor over pencil lines. Signed with the studio stamp lower right. 17 x 30 cm Provenance : Félix Thiollier Collection (stamped on the back). We would like to thank Madame Christine Boyer for confirming the authenticity of this work and for the information she provided. This is a preparatory study of a very specific location that Ravier was particularly fond of when he lived in Crémieu between 1852 and 1867. It reveals the ruins of an ancient fortified priory on the Saint-Hippolyte hill, with a large medieval tower protruding from the fortifications. This promontory, which overlooks the town of L'Isle-Cremieu as seen here from a low angle, is part of a group known as the "Murailles du matin" (Morning Walls). A stony path leads the painter from the center of the village to the ramparts of Saint-Hippolyte, of which all that remains is the silhouette. In the background, the sun, which is not yet shining on the tower, rises towards the mountains in the background, leaving the foreground still misty with the remnants of dawn. No foreground detracts from the direct reading of the future work, this study drawing being ready for the artist to add the very fleeting colored glimmers to come. The sky, already well observed, is sketched directly with broad brushstrokes of wash, giving an almost definitive form to its clouds, in very diluted Payne grey, lacking the bright colors due to the early hour. A preparatory juice of Hooker green mixed with diluted sienna indicates both the trees to the right of the tower and the earthy foreground. As usual, Ravier leaves his pencil line, always very fine, clean and precise, visible beneath the watercolor, emphasizing only the essentials of a landscape he knows perfectly well. He waits for the sun and its subtleties in the early morning.