Gustave Bourgain (1856-1918) - Le Vengeur - Watercolor On Paper

After training at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris with Jean-Léon Gérôme and Édouard Detaille, Gustave Bourgain specialized in seascapes and history painting. From the teaching of his masters, he retains a pronounced taste for drawing and military painting. He distinguished himself in particular by his talents as a watercolourist, which earned him admission to the Society of French watercolorists from 1890. In 1892, he presented Le Vengeur there, based on the historical episode of the loss of the ship French war film The Avenger of the People. This ship was sunk by the English in 1794 and immediately erected as a symbol of heroic resistance, the legend having it that the sailors refused to surrender and died to cries of "Vive la Patrie, vive la République" without lowering the French flag. For his large composition, known for engraving, Gustave Bourgain uses watercolor like a history painter, with many characters captured in the moment preceding the shipwreck. Hailed by critics for its technical prowess, it was presented again at the Universal Exhibition of 1900 under the title La Fin du “Vengeur”. In the colors of the French flag, our watercolor could be a preparatory study or an a posteriori variation of its central part. Bugle in hand, the ship's captain is surrounded by officers valiantly brandishing arms and rifles as the boat takes on water and the victims pile up around them.