Chéri François Dubreuil

Auktion W229 Lot 6509 - 22 June 2011 15:30 DUBREUIL, CHERI FRANCOIS MARGUERITE (1828 France circa 1880) Pair of works: Ships on lake Geneva and Ship in a storm.1873. Oil on canvas. Each signed and dated lower right: C. Dubreuil1873. Each 49.5 x 90.5 cm. CHF 6 000.- / 8 000.- € 4 620.- / 6 150.- DUBREUIL, CHERI FRANCOIS MARGUERITE (1828 Frankreich um 1880) Gegenstücke: Schiffe auf dem Genfersee und Schiff im Sturm.1873. Öl auf Leinwand. Je unten rechts signiert und datiert: C. Dubreuil1873. Je 49,5 x 90,5 cm. CHF 6 000.- / 8 000.- € 4 620.- / 6 150.-

Cheri Francois Marguerite Dubreuil (French, 1828-died circa 1880)
Prise du Niger sur la cote Oriental d\'Afrique
Add. Notes: Prise du Niger sur la cote Oriental d'Afrique signed and with anchor cipher 'C. Dubreuil' (lower right) and inscribed as titled (lower left) oil on canvas 25 x 37½ in. (63.5 x 95.3 cm.)
Notes: One of the so-called 'extreme' clippers, the justly famous Young America was christened with what soon came to be regarded as the perfect name once she began her career opening up trade along the Pacific coast of the United States in the wake of the California 'Gold Rush' of 1849. The last vessel to be designed and built by the gifted William H. Webb of New York, Young America was widely considered to be his masterpiece when she was launched on 30th April 1853. Constructed from only the finest materials available, at the massive cost of $140,000, she was registered at 1,961 tons and measured 243 feet in length with a 43 foot beam; indeed, her lines were so admired by all who saw her that it was said "she was not excelled by anything afloat." Owned initially by the prominent New York merchant George B. Daniels, her size and speed ensured that she always commanded the highest freight rates and she never lacked cargo throughout her long career. Even in an era when many clippers and their captains were household names, she steadfastly remained a favorite amongst shippers and, over the course of twenty return passages from New York to San Francisco, she averaged 118 days out and 98 back, both times well below the norm for that era. In 1872-73 she established the record of 82 days from the 'Golden Gate' to New York, the fastest time ever recorded by a cargo-carrying sailing ship on that run. She also established a westbound record passage of 99 days from San Francisco to Liverpool - her other frequent destination - and, as the years passed, she was to be found in many other ports across the Pacific coping with a wide variety of cargo. Finally sold out of American registry to Austrian owners in 1883, she was renamed Miroslav and adopted the Croatian port of Bakar as her new homeport. Despite this change of nationality, she continued in the brutal trans-Atlantic trade until 1886 when, after leaving Delaware on 17th February that year, she disappeared without trace and was never heard of again. Such was Young America's fame that Buttersworth painted her on several occasions; in fact, were it not for the markedly different dimensions involved, the work offered in this catalogue could almost be regarded as a mirror image of the artist's starboard view of her "in a hurricane" currently held in the collection of the Mystic Seaport Museum, Connecticut (for which, see Rudolph J. Schaefer's J.E. Buttersworth, 19th-Century Marine Painter, Mystic, Connecticut, 1975, p.113, no. 88, 20 x 30ins.). Given she has only her inner jib (stretching upwards from her bowsprit to her fore topmast) and the wildly-flapping main lower topsail to steady her - both identical features in the Mystic Seaport's work - it seems highly probable that these portraits depict the very same hurricane from which she eventually emerged safely to continue on her way.

signed oil on canvas CATALOGUE NOTE Mogador (also known as Essaouira for a time) in southern Morocco was founded by the Portuguese at the end of the 15th century. In the 18th century under the leadership of Sultan Sidi Muhammad ibn Abdallah the city was redesigned by the French architect Theodore Cornut as a fortified trading port. Its importance grew as, apart from Tangier, it was the only trading port open to European merchants. France invaded Algeria in 1830 but almost immediately encountered a resistance movement led by Abd al-Kadir. The rebellion inflicted a series of defeats on the occupying French and enjoyed the support of a number of neighbouring countries including Morocco. It was for this reason that a French fleet including Triton, Gemappes, Suffren, Triton and Belle Poule weighed anchor off Mogador on 15th August 1844. The Moors opened hostilities with a barrage of fire from the fortified battery. The response from the French was minimal until later in the day when a full scale bombardment was unleashed. Resistance from the battery soon ceased and a militia, formed of local tribes to defend the city, promptly sacked it. Amidst such chaos it is little wonder the French infantry took control three days later killing over five hundred tribesman while suffering less than thirty casualties themselves.

François Marguerite-Chéri Dubreuil (1828-after 1864) A South American Port, probably Vera Cruz, Mexico signed and dated 'C. Dubreuil 1864/Genêve' (lower left), inscribed 'Monte Video' on a label on the reverse oil on canvas 17¾ x 30in. (45.1 x 76.2cm.) Lot Notes Dubreuil was a French naval officer serving on the Central and South American stations from the 1850s. He was attached to the fleet of the French Antilles, based in Guadeloupe and illustrated a booklet for naval cadets as well a painting maritime subjects relating to the French naval presence and actions in South America, the Caribbean and Mexico in the mid-nineteenth century.