Barthelemy Lauvergne

This is an original oil on canvas painting laid to a board,  by French Marine artist Barthelemy Lauvergne.  The title is Vue de Toulon, dated 1849, this painting measures 17 11/2X25 1/2 inches, signed and dated  bottom right.  Some light crackiing to the painting but everything is stable, the canvas has been backed upon a board no evidence of inpainting.  Toulon is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast.  Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province.  This painting was given as a gift to William E Umstattd  president of The Timken Steel & Tube Company, from S.A. Francaise Timken in 1949.  

Barthelemy Lauvergne was a naval draughtsman and marine painter, born in Toulon, France, 1805.

From 1826 to 1829 he served in the Astrolabe as secretary to Dumont d’Urville, visiting– five points on the Australian coast. The commander had instructed 'young Lauvergne, my secretary, to take views of all the coasts and islands which we saw during the voyage his  Australian coastal profiles are included in the collection now in the Archives Nationales.

Like Louis le Breton and Charles Meryon , Lauvergne sought to turn his artistic skills and distant experiences to further advantage, exhibiting in the Paris Salon from 1838, when he showed Frigate Running before the Wind, Sea Study (Cape Horn) , until at least 1849. He was awarded a third-class medal at the 1839 Salon and became a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur in 1841. From 1841 to 1854 Lauvergne was in Paris, working in the Naval Ministry and in the Department of Maps and Charts where his colleagues would have included le Breton. He returned to Toulon in 1854 and died there in 1871.