Jean-louis Paguenaud (1876–1952) A Fleet Of Boats At Night. Naval Painter, Limoges

A new work by Jean-Louis Paguenaud—this time a superb gouache depicting a flotilla of boats at dusk, signed in the upper right corner.
The size of the gouache alone (unframed) is 12x18 cm, and 22x30 cm including the frame.
The gouache is in very good condition and comes in a lovely antique-style mahogany-colored lacquered frame.
Authenticity guaranteed.

This is indeed a magnificent work by Jean-Louis Paguenaud, but as is often the case with his small-format gouaches painted from life, here a flotilla with numerous boats, mostly warships, apparently from the French and British navies; we see a cruiser flying the British flag, a tugboat, another vessel on the far left flying the French flag, and in the middle of it all, a sailboat with all sails set. Paguenaud painted this scene at dusk, with magnificent reflections on the sea; in the distance, one can barely make out the hilly coastline. 

Jean-Louis Paguenaud needs no introduction—he was a famous painter from the Limousin region, but above all one of the most celebrated official painters of the French Navy, alongside Marin-Marie, Fouillé, Morchain, Haffner, and Sébille.
Jean-Louis Paguenaud, a pseudonym for Jean-Philippe Paguenaud, born on June 30, 1876, in Coussac-Bonneval (Haute-Vienne), and died on May 31, 1952, in Limoges (Haute-Vienne), was a French painter.

Jean-Philippe Paguenaud spentpart of his childhood in Algiers, where he discovered the sea, before his father, a gendarme, was transferred to Limoges. There, he attended classes at the School of Decorative Arts while working as a painter in a porcelain factory.

He then studied under William Bouguereau, after which he enlisted in the navy. He brought back gouaches and drawings from his travels, which he exhibited at the 1905 Salon des Indépendants. He also spent some time in the Basque Country, where he gained renown in that region as well. In 1914, his brother Joseph-Louis died in combat. To honor his memory, he decided from then on to sign his works using one of his brother’s first names.
In 1922, he passed the competitive examination to become an official painter of the Navy. He lived for a time on a houseboat in Paris, then returned to settle in Limoges, where he died in 1952. He is buried in the Louyat Cemetery.

His works are housed in Paris at the Musée de la Marine and in Bordeaux at the École de Santé Navale