Sinagot In Sight Of The Coast By Charles Leduc - Brittany

Oil on canvas, signed lower right. Dimensions without frame 27 x 41 cm, with frame 40 x 54 cm.

Charles Leduc was born into a family of merchants from Nantes. He began his working life after a lackluster education as a clerk for an uncle who ran a fertilizer company in Nantes. After throwing an inkwell at his uncle-boss's head, he was thrown out and he boarded the first boat to leave. He became a deep-sea sailor for eight years, including four years of military service. This first-rate experience gave him perfect mastery of his subjects when he began drawing. After his military service, he became a student of Charles Leroux in Paris, a former student of Corot, then set up his studio in Nantes, at 30 rue de la Fosse with his brother Alfred Leduc, also a painter and student of Henri Lehmann. Charles Leduc was also a student of the painter François-Louis Français. It was in Nantes that he painted portraits of merchant ships, at the request of shipowners, in the spirit of the "Pierhead painters", those painters who worked in the largest commercial ports in America and Europe in the 19th century. He also depicted pleasure boats. An eclectic artist, he worked as a sailor and painter, as well as a mechanic, cabinetmaker, model maker and naval architect. He was also the correspondent for the newspaper Le Yacht, since its founding, as well as for Le Monde Illustré. He signed his works with an anchor, the prerogative of official painters of the navy.