Lot 849: Francois Bernard (French, b. ca. 1812, Active New

Francois Bernard (French, b. ca. 1812, Active New Orleans 1856-1875) "Portrait of Francoise Dugas Gaudet", oil on canvas, 30" x 25", oval, signed and dated right center "Bernard 1866". Presented in its original period carved and gilt cypress exhibition frame. Provenance: The estate of Celeste Gaudet Desobry, New Orleans, Louisiana; descended in the family of the sitter. Reference: The Historic New Orleans Collection, Encyclopedia of New Orleans Artists: 1718-1918. Bernard came to Louisiana in 1856 at the invitation of a group of sugar planters who requested portraits. He continued to paint society portraits for some of Louisiana's most prominent residents. The Dugas family were sugar manufacturers in Assumption Parish and related by marriage to Louis Desobry, a sugar planter in Plaquemine, Iberville Parish, who owned and operated nearby Irion Plantation, ca. 1854-1865.