Étienne Martin’s Study

The Martins

Portrait of Etienne MartinPortrait of Étienne Martin

Portrait of Paul MartinPortrait of Paul Martin

 

The tour route through the museum exhibition starts with a space dedicated to the two people who initiated the Digne museum. This evocation of a study immerses you in the private family atmosphere of its first curator, the landscape painter Etienne Martin, and his father Paul, watercolour artist and art dealer.

Due to the lack of documents on the museum during the time of the Martins, this space was designed on the basis of photographs of the family home, the Villa Saint-Martin, acquired in 1873 and richly furnished and decorated. It shows museography that is typical of the 19th century, with an accumulation of diverse objects: paintings, faience ware and arms. Above the fireplace is a portrait of Frédéric Mistral in Digne, posing in front of the “large fountain”.