FLOTTE de SAINT-JOSEPH (often called Chevalier de Flotte de - Lot 10

FLOTTE de SAINT-JOSEPH (often called Chevalier de Flotte de Saint-Joseph, born 1727). The port of Toulon Pair of canvases, hanging. Height: 58 cm Width: 98 cm. Provenance: Sale in Paris, Hôtel Drouot, PIASA, June 22, 2007, no. 105 (as attributed to Jean-Baptiste Lallemand)- Galerie Xavier Goyet (as Henri-Joseph van Blarenberghe) We can attribute this pair to Flotte de Saint-Joseph, a painter active in the second half of the 18th century, especially between 1760 and 1780. An officer on the king's ships, he exhibited at the Académie de Saint-Luc in Paris in 1753. He specialized in port and naval scenes under Louis XV and Louis XVI. Although little is known about his life, Flotte de Saint-Joseph remains an interesting witness to activity in the port of Toulon before the French Revolution. His work highlights the Kingdom's maritime power. He has strong links with Toulon, France's main military arsenal in the Mediterranean. He drew his inspiration from port life and its intense activity: ship movements, fleet departures, military exercises and naval festivals. His work follows in the tradition of marine painting developed by Claude-Joseph Vernet, as well as by artists such as Louis-Nicolas Van Blarenberghe and the Lallemand family. Like them, he depicts lively harbors and places great importance on the details of boats and buildings. He favors precise topographical representation. One of his best-known works is "Manoeuvres navales à Toulon, juillet 1777", held in Paris at the Musée national de la Marine, depicting military exercises organized under Louis XVI and showing the importance of the French navy at the time.