St Philibert Chapel By Jean Rigaud 1912-1999

Oil on canvas measuring 27cmx 35cm plus frame 43cm x 52cm Titled on the back "La chapelle StPhilibert (Morbilhan)" Painting signed lower right by the marine painter Jean RIGAUD Jean Rigaud (born Jean Charles François Rigaud on June 15, 1912 in Bordeaux and died February 7, 1999 in Paris) is a painter of the French Navy. In 1937, he painted a fresco "Lot et Garonne - Gers" with his father for the Guyenne and Gascony pavilion of the 1937 Universal Exhibition and they received a gold medal. In Paris, in 1938, he produced marouflaged canvases for the Sainte-Eugénie Church in Pontonx-sur-l'Adour, we find on the back of the bell tower, the resurrected Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene and Jesus and the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. The other eight, which occupy the spandrels of the five large arcades, each with two figures, are said to have been painted in Urt. In a clearly hierarchical arrangement moving towards the choir, they represent twelve saints, including several from the Landes, then four figures of the Virgin and Child, with a building in the background that helps with identification, and four angels. We recognize Father Louis-Édouard Cestac, related to his wife's family, Saint Vincent de Paul, Saint Michael Garicoïts, Saint Dominic and Saint Francis, Saint Louis and Saint Joan of Arc. A prisoner of war at Stalag VIIA in Moosburg in 1940, he produced many sensitive drawings there. At the end of the war, he participated with Rose Valland in the artistic recovery commission. A lover of travel and the sea, he was appointed painter of the Navy on January 1, 1956, then full-time on June 1, 1979. All his work is devoted to landscapes and still lifes in warm colors. Like the other painters of the Navy, his signature is followed by an anchor which indicates his status as Painter of the Navy. He painted many canvases at L'Île-d'Yeu, the port, the sailing school, which he discovered in the 1950s and where he lived until the end of his life. He participated in the 210th anniversary of the declaration of independence of the United States in 1986, invited on the Jeanne d'Arc (helicopter carrier) then to the Armada of Rouen in 1989. He frequently traveled to Venice. He exhibited in many galleries Paul Durand-Ruel, Carré gallery, in Brie-Comte-Robert and is appreciated in the United States. In 1998, he prepared a major retrospective exhibition of his work at the Musée national de la Marine but died shortly before the inauguration, in February 1999. The Île d'Yeu paid tribute to him in 2012 for the centenary of his birth. Jean Rigaud exhibited a work each year in most of the major Parisian salons, notably that of the Société nationale des Beaux-Arts, of which he was a member. He also exhibited regularly at the "Comparaisons" salon in the group of Maurice Boitel, to whom he introduced the Île d'Yeu. Awards 1935 Silver Medal of the Société des artistes français5. Medal of the Order of Maritime Merit, 1989 Paintings acquired by the French State Musée national de la Marine, Musée de Niort, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Tours, Musées de Poitiers, Musée de Dax Musée de Mulhouse, Musée de Cholet, Musée de Pontoise, Musée de Strasbourg