11. End Game. The beginning of the end announced itself in 1981 by a first heart attack shortly followed by another. Destiny hesitated a while but then a melanoma was followed in 1989 by bone cancer. The months that followed, right up to the final month of June 1991 were but one long torture. The pain harboured in his body brought the artist closer to Saint Sebastian whom he had so often depicted. He gave us an idea of his own sufferings by registering the traces it left on his emaciated face,

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dominated by the unaltered blueness of his eyes - moving self portraits of the man who had once been such a dandy.

His Christian faith, that had never left him and which had re-emerged during the 1980s , helped him resist despair and supported him in his final hours. Dying at the age of seventy-two and seven months, Sior Maschera was relatively young. But for six whole decades he savoured life to the full, enjoying all its flavours.

His will left considerable donations to charitable works (cancer, AIDS) and the cardiology department of Saint Tropez hospital. He arranged that a museum keep a record of his work and that a chapel should be built not far from the village to be dedicated to the Virgin. And to Saint Vincent too, his patron saint and the patron saint of winegrowers.      J-M R