Leaving Arles for Marseilles, the railway skirts the northern shores of the Etang de Berre. Looking south from the train I caught a glimpse in the distance of spires and buildings which seemed to belong to a town sitting in the water. With a feeling that I was going to find what I was seeking, an anchorage at last, I returned from Marseilles, and, changing at Pas des Lanciers, took the little railway which leads to Martigues’
(Augustus John, Chiaroscuro: Fragments of Autobiography, 1952, p.106).
Augustus bought the Villa Ste Anne at Martigues and over the years painted a series of landscape paintings on small wooden panels which are today among his most sought after works. The Little Railway and another smaller version held by Tate Britain, were painted in 1928, the year the family left Martigues.
