Etienne-prosper Berne-bellecour (1838 - 1910) - The Sailor, 1879.

Oil on panel signed and dated lower right old label,
exhibition number on the back
Dimensions: 21 x 12 cm With frame: 40 x 32 cm

Far from military and battle scenes, EP Berne Bellecour gives us here the portrait of a young sailor sailor by the sea. A lot of charm and a certain melancholy emerges from this portrait of a sailor in his thoughts, smoking his pipe on the beach, after, perhaps, a day's work With the skill that characterizes him , he paints the detail of the clothes, the light of the maritime landscape with a delicate and sensitive touch. The colors are shimmering.

Painter of portraits, landscapes and military scenes, Étienne-Prosper Berne-Bellecour is a talented artist much appreciated by the general public. Born in boulogne sur mer, son of Louise Éléonore Jouard and Etienne Berne, dramatic artist. He was admitted to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1856, where he was a pupil of Émile Signol, François-Édouard Picot and Félix-Joseph Barrias. He collaborated with illustrated newspapers, then turned, in the years 1864 to 1870, to photography by joining Michel Berthaud, under the sign "Helios", without giving up painting. In 1864, he married Jeanne Victorine Alice Vibert, sister of the painter and playwright Jean-Georges Vibert He enlisted during the 1870 war in the Free Corps of Tirailleurs de la Seine. He will be decorated with the Military Medal. A companion of Édouard Detaille and Alphonse de Neuville, he painted many battle paintings during the conflict, the most famous of which are Les Tirailleurs de la Seine au combat de Malmaison (1874), Le Prisonnier and Défense d'un pont. One of his sons, Jean-Jacques Berne-Bellecour (1874-1939), also became a military painter. Berne-Bellecour bought in 1867 the castle of Égreville, then in a state of ruin. He restored it and settled there at the end of his life. In 1899, he sold this property to his friend Jules Massenet. He died in November 1910 at his Parisian home.

Awards and Distinctions: • Military Medal, September 7, 18718. • Universal Exhibition Medal in 1869, in 1872, in 1878, in 1889, in 1909. •Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur, July 11, 187810.

Bibliography: •Benezit • Schurr "The Little Masters of Painting"

Museums: In France • Paris, Army Museum, Hôtel des Invalides. • Belfort, Museum of History and Archaeology. Study for the panorama of the siege of Belfort, Artilleryman on horseback in campaign dress (1893) • Mulhouse, German prisoners, 1871 Chasseur on foot on duty Internationally •London (South Kensington) Japanese Coquetry Souvenir of Norway • New York, Brooklyn Museum. The Lover (1869), Guard Pickets (circa 1891), New York, Brooklyn Museum.