Origin: French

Hambourg was born in Paris in 1909. He was a prolific French Impressionist whose work is internationally respected. He is best known for luminous seascapes and beach scenes, including his poetic scenes of Venice. His formal artistic studies began in 1926 at the age of seventeen when he entered the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts…

The prolific Roux family of French marine painters produced no less than six practitioners of ship portraiture. Working mainly in watercolor, the family produced throughout the 19th century an amazing output totaling over 7000 pictures. Matheiu-Antoine Roux Jr. Was the third in the line of this family of ship painters. His style was considered vastly…

Born in Metz, French artist and weaver Camille Hilaire began his career at fifteen by copying works by Albrecht DŸrer in his local Library. A few drawings left to hang in a local bookshop brought Hilaire the attention of Jean Giono and Nicolas Untersteller, director of the ƒcole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, and he would attend…

A lifelong friend of Henri Matisse and Albert Marquet, each of whom Charles Camoin met while enrolled in the Beaux-Arts de Paris, the three artists were primary among those referred to as "Wild Beasts", or "Fauvists". Camoin himself was instrumental in the 1905 exhibit where art critic Louis Vauxcelles backhandedly anointed the artists with the…

An artist who developed close professional ties with the French Navy, Charles Fouqueray occupies an important and unique niche in the annuals of French art. While public tastes and the Salons were riding the innovation and birth of Impressionism, Fouqueray dove wholeheartedly into a well-defined, tight realism for his romantic portrayals of the importance of…

Charles Levier was born in 1920 to a French father and American mother in Corsica. An early interest in art led him at seventeen to attend the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs. At nineteen when WWII broke out, he served in the French Army in North Africa, later becoming Liaison Officer with the U.S.…

Charles Louis Mozin flourished during his lifetime as a regional painter of the waterways of Normandy coast. His marine atmospheres and nautical subjects displayed an individual style which bloomed from the best of the Dutch and British traditions. His work proved popular, and led to his early contributions to the emerging French impressionists, exhibiting annually…

An artist of importance, well represented in the top museums of the world, the works of Daubigny appeal to universal commonalities beyond nationality and race. From French shores and river banks he helped initiate the Plein-Air activity of painting while in connection to the selected environment, often composing works directly from his houseboat on the…

Edouard Adam was the name of both a father and son who painted ship’s portraits in the port of Le Havre around the same time. There is much confusion between the two as their works were quite similar. Both Adams were the official painters to the department of marine in Le Havre and were well…

Edouard Adam was the name of both a father and son who painted ship’s portraits in the port of Le Havre around the same time. There is much confusion between the two as their works were quite similar. Both Adams were the official painters to the department of marine in Le Havre and were well…

A prominent ship and cargo broker operating from the ports of Le Havre and Rouen on the River Seine northwest of Paris, Nicolle proved to be an astute businessman. His financial success earned him the freedom to study and perform quality works of art. He held primarily to this passion for personal reasons as he…

Known as a painter of both landscapes and fine marine views, Eugene Berthelon was born in Paris in 1829. As a student of the masterful French landscape artist Eugene Lavielle, he excelled in learning the classic plein air technique for painting outdoors directly from nature to best capture the elusive elements of natural phenomenon and…

Recognized as the most original marine painter of the last century, Eugene Boudin became the chief progenitor of marine impressionism and one of the most important influences on the emerging impressionist school. There are few major collections or museums of any substance that omit the art of this pivotal artist. Born in Honfleur on the…

The gifted French painter and engraver, Eugene Galien-Laloue is most widely noted for his views of Paris that captured the exact atmosphere of the "city of light" at the turn of the century. As well, the artist selected picturesque sites alon

An important traveling artist of the pre-impressionist generation, Felix Ziem will forever be connected to the immortal city-state of Venice. He first visited the canaled city in the early 1840s, came back in 1845 for a three-year stay, and visited throughout his career until 1892. Between his Venetian sojourns, he painted views of Constantinople and…

Born in Kolozsv‡r, Transylvania to Hungarian parents, Francois Gall was supported by the government in his early art education, studying first in Rome and then after coming home to teach, he headed for the l'Ecole Nationale de Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1936. Once exposed to the light and color of the Impressionists, he was forever…

The prolific Roux family of French marine painters produced no less than six practitioners of ship portraiture. Working mainly in watercolor, the family produced throughout the 19th century an amazing output totaling over 7000 pictures. Francois Geoffroi Roux was the youngest of the Roux family. He is noted for painting more ambitious themes than his…

The Roux family of Mediterranean port painters was made up of no less than six important marine artists who were all born in the French seaport of Marseille. The second son of Antoine Roux (1765-1835), Francois Joseph Frederic Roux, known as Frederic, was the third generation of this important dynasty of sea painters. By 1822,…

The pivotal French painter Gustave Courbet has often been called the father of realist painting. Born in Ornans to a prosperous farming family, Courbet initially taught himself to paint by copying paintings he saw at the Louvre, especially the works of 17th century naturalists such as Velazquez and Caravaggio. Scorning the romantic and academic themes…

A technically precise artist, Gustave Loiseau attracted the right individuals early in his career to make his path a success. After studying in his hometown of Paris at the School of Decorative Arts and with noted landscapist Fernand Quignone, Loiseau left for Port-Aven on the Brittany Coast. There he associated closely with Paul Gauguin, Henry…

A unique style of expressive freedom embodies the work of post-impressionist Henri Lebasque. He built upon his foundation of traditional academic training through his many associations with noted artists and the diverse schools of late 19TH Century France. Humanity at leisure, presented with warm colors and a trained eye for beauty are his forté. He…

The cliffs, grassy hillsides and waterways of the western shores of France's Brittany Coast inspired the artist Henry Moret to capture their timeless beauty in paintings. Primarily an impressionist in technical style, he developed traits through his studies at the ƒcole National Des Beaux-Arts under Jean-Paul Laurens and Jean-Léon Gerome which he used through his…

Original advertising art done at the Industrial Trade School Arles, France which closed in 1953.

An important and yet subtle member today of what informally may be considered the second row of French Impressionists, the marks that Antoine Guillemet set with his artistic output are prodigious and will continue to make inroads into collections over the years to come. He was a huge success in his lifetime within the salons…

Influenced directly by the strong lines and bright colorful paintings of Kees von Dongen, Jean Pierre Cassigneul made immediate inroads into the world of fine art with his 20th Century paintings. Born in Paris in 1935, he exhibited his first solo exhibition at 17 and never looked back. He studied at the National Academies, and…

The ship portraitists of the Mediterranean ports, particularly those of the Eastern Seaboards, produced their works on paper, using primarily gouache, an opaque form of watercolors. The most accomplished practitioners of this technique were the prolific Roux Family and their contemporary, Honore Pellegrin.Pellegrin worked in the French seaport of Marseilles during the Second and Third…

As a teenager, Louis Valtat took to an artistic career and never looked back. Studying at the Lycée Hoche in Versailles near his family home, he gained admission to the Ecole des Beaux Arts in 1886, and won his first award, the Jauvin d'Attainville prize in 1890. During these years and beyond, Valtat would make…

An artist of undeniable ability and powers of observation, Luigi Loir would become one of the foremost painters of views of Paris. His early popularity was gained with his commissions to paint murals and ceilings, including many at the Chateaux du Diable in 1866, a year after he debuted at the Paris Salon to high…

Known as a ‘pure impressionist', Marcel Dyf specialized in capturing life's varied forms of existence. Well-known in his native country and throughout the western art world, Dyf painted a substantial number of marine paintings, landscapes, nudes and floral scenes. The Romani, or gypsies, held special importance in his emotional and artistic pursuits, often becoming the…

Born to French parents, after an introduction to art in his native country from the Brothers Ludec, Maxime Camille Louis Maufra studied the basics of business commerce across the Channel and up the coast of Britain in Liverpool. He also imbued himself of that storied port's tradition of marine art. While his career influences would…

An artist of significant output and social beliefs, Maximilien Luce started out from a working class beginning to become one of the most important post-impressionist artists in all of Europe. In part due to his close relationship with his most significant mentor, Camille Pissarro, he championed Anarchist beliefs and chose to portray "everyday people" in…

Gifted in being allowed to live "the dreaming life" as he proclaimed, Octave Guillonnet proved to be an extraordinary talent. He entered the art studio of Lionel Royer in Paris at the young age of 13, won his first award at 15, and by the time he was 20, he earned the rank of Hors-Concours…

A student of his father, Paul Lecomte, Sr.,(1842-1920), the young man developed his ability in concert with a large extended family of noted artists. He studied at the Beaux-Arts in Paris with Cormon. Paul Emile Lecomte excelled in portraying the natural settings of France's bio-diversity. His landscapes varied widely from marketplaces to isolated country sides,…

A genre painter who arose from the crowd of artists following in the wake of the Impressionists of France to make an impact through paintings of people at recreation at the beach and in the mountains. He excelled in the use of both oil and watercolor, studying with Bonnat and Maignan. He became a member…

Renoir was born on February 25, 1841, in the small manufacturing town of Limoges. His family moved to Paris when he was four years old. Gounod advised him to become a musician, but Renoir felt more compulsion toward the graphic arts. At thirteen he joined a ceramic establishment where he painted flowers on porcelain. Later…

Considered one of three great 20th Century painters of the French Navy, maritime painter Roger Chapelet had a passion not only for the sea, but also the ships and people who braved the elements to sail great distances or fight on behalf of their countries. Born Albert Roger &?Eacute;douard Chapelet, he caught a love of…