Il Disertore

The first art book published by Franco Maria Ricci tells the extraordinary story of the naïve painter Charles Frédéric Brun, known as the Deserter. The obscure French "imager" lived in the second half of the 19th century, and wandered the valleys of Valais, between Nendaz, Veysonnaz and other villages, trying to evade the law, leaving France at Haute-Savoie to illegally enter Switzerland around 1850. Without a word about himself or anything else, with brushes and paints he made religious and profane pictures in exchange for basic food items such as bread, cheese and lard, and more rarely, a little money. His works, of which about a hundred are currently in private collections, are an expression of simplicity in an unvarying style: folk madonnas, bearded saints, manger scenes, sacred families and legendary stories come to life through the use of vibrant colours and a wealth of elegant decorative elements. This minor master's mysterious story is told by the writer Jean Giono, who went to Switzerland, to the places where the Deserter stayed during his evasion, admiring his paintings.