Lot 143: Charles-Emile de Tournemine (French, 1812-1872)

Pêcheries sur le Danube (soleil couchant)
signed 'Ch de Tournemine' (lower left), artist's studio sale stamp on verso.
oil on canvas
22 5/8 x 47 1/2 in. (57.4 x 120.7 cm.)

This painting may have been shown in the 1859 Paris Salon as 'Oiseaux pêcheurs en Asie (effet soleil couchant)'.

L. Turrel, 'Etude sur Tournemine. Peintre toulonnais', Bulletin de la Société académique du Var, Toulon, 1877, p. 81-82.

Collection of the artist; his sale, 2-3-4 February 1874, lot 2 as 'Pêcheries sur le Danube (soleil couchant)'.

The Danube Delta has been inhabited for thousands of years. To this day, descendants of the original Scythian and Dacian tribes still live on this land surrounded by waters and the famous Dalmatian pelicans. In this painting one notes the caravan, the pelicans and the typical floating islets created by reeds, intertwining willows, poplars and oaks. At the time this work was painted, the Danube Delta was a crucial exchange zone, at the border of the Russian and Ottoman Empires, for Italian, Arab and Greek merchants and travellers.

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