Two Châteaux on the Dordogne — the story behind Château de Fayrac, France

There are parts of France that feel almost unfairly beautiful. The Périgord is one of them.

I came to the Dordogne valley by way of slow travel — the kind where you don't have a tight itinerary and you allow the landscape to surprise you. The Périgord does this constantly. Around almost every bend in the river there is another medieval village, another limestone cliff with cave dwellings carved into it, another hilltop garden trailing roses over a stone wall.

The Château de Fayrac stopped me.

It sits near the river's edge, hidden by the tree line.  Its pointed towers rising in that particular way that French châteaux have — as if they've always been there and can't quite imagine why you cannot understand their original purpose. What I hadn't expected was the second château visible beyond it: the Château de Monrecour rising above the treeline at the rear. Two châteaux in one composition, as viewed from Les Jardins de Marqueyssac hilltop gardens some distance away across the river.

I painted this view on a large stretched canvas  — 101 × 76 cm — because the subject demanded it. A small format would have flattened the sense of depth, the layers of the scene: stately buildings, trees, stone walls, towers, sky. The scale allows your eye to scan the panorama.

The Périgord is a region that rewards discovery, and this painting is an attempt to hold some of that feeling — the romance and the stillness of one of France's most quietly grand river valleys.

Château de Fayrac, France is an original oil on stretched canvas, 101.6 × 76.2 cm, unframed, with a Certificate of Authenticity. View the painting →