Joanny DREVET (1889–1969) - Lot 140

Joanny DREVET (1889–1969) Path to the Ruined Redoute (Tarantaise) Color etching and aquatint, signed in the lower right margin, countersigned with a dedication and numbered 49/350 in the lower right corner and located in the lower right corner of the plate 37 x 50 cm (visible area) Bibliography: Beccatini, no. 256, p. 134 Slight light damage One of the rarest [commissions must have been few and far between; the actual print run was around 100 copies]. This depicts the path leading to the fort of “La Redoute Ruinée,” located at the Col de la Traversette at an altitude of 2,400 m [in the Queyras, in the Haute Tarantaise, within the La Rosière ski area [Montvalezan], above Bourg Saint-Maurice, with a direct view of the Great Saint Bernard Pass and Mont Blanc]. This fort was built in 1892 to ward off potential Italian attacks following the annexation of Savoy by France in 1860. Its purpose was to monitor the Col de la Traversette and the Combe des Moulins. It also blocked access to the Petit Saint-Bernard Pass, as it offers direct views of it. It took the name “Redoute Ruinée” in homage to the former Fort Traversette, built by the House of Savoy in 1630 on the same ridgeline and later destroyed during the French Revolution. Between the two world wars, this structure served as a training camp for the Chasseurs Alpins. Due to its strategic location, the fort was the site of several deadly battles during World War II.