Monsieur Maestracci was a Corsican sculptor who lived in Bargemon and being a fellow artist befriended my mother when she first moved to the village and barely spoke French. One can see that he was a real character and I’m sure it was his well worn face that encouraged my mother to ask him to sit for her.

Later in 1975 my mother entered the painting into the Gran Premio dei Sette Colli di Roma (Grand Prix of Seven Hills of Rome) held at the Winter Casino in Cannes, France; there she won an Diploma D’Onore or Honorable Mention. It’s interesting to note that in her diary entry she lists it as “reservé” or not for sale.

If you compare this image to an old photograph taken shortly after the painting was completed, you can see that my mother has painted over the date, she did this because many exhibition rules specify a “recent” work.

When I initially posted this painting on the site, I didn’t know what had become of it. Later while searching the web for images attributed to Christine Benson, I saw that the painting was for sale on Etsy in England. I was fortunate enough to be able to buy it and get it shipped over. I’m still continuing to research it and found out it was bought by the Esty seller at an auction in Portsmouth in 2022. I’ll add any additional information here if I find out anything more.

Diary Entries