Ambroise Louis Garneray (1783 – 1857) was a French corsair, painter and writer. He served under Robert Surcouf and Jean-Marie Dutertre, and was held as prisoner-of-war by the British for eight years after being captured before being repatriated at the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars, continuing his career as a painter until his death in 1857.

Garneray was born in Paris (on Rue Saint-Andre-des-arts, in the Latin Quarter) on 19 February 1783. He was the elder son of Jean-François Garneray (1755–1837), painter of the king, who was pupil of Jacques-Louis David. At thirteen, he joined the Navy as a seaman, encouraged by his cousin, Beaulieu-Leloup, commander of the frigate Forte (“the Stout one”). Garneray sailed from Rochefort to the Indian Ocean with the frigate division under Sercey, to which the Forte belonged.

He was in fact the first Peintre de la Marine (“official painter of the Navy”).

Developing a tremor which prevented him from writing and which complicated his work as a painter, he died in Paris in 1857, a few months only before his wife was mysteriously assassinated. Garneray was buried at the Montmartre cemetery: A close friend of his had the tombstone decorated with a painter’s palette, a ship mast and the Legion of Honour.

Here are some of the paintings he made in Cherbourg, Normandy.

John Cotman, a British painter, was quite active in Normandy. He spent a lot of time painting in Caen and Ouistreham (suburb of Caen).

Here is one of his paintings we found he made in Cherbourg.

Louis-Etienne Timmermans (1846 – 1910) was a Belgian painter, specialized in marine paintings and landscapes. He was a pupil of the Academie de Bruxelles and the Ecole des Beaux Arts de Paris.

Timmermans worked mostly in France, painting small coastal harbours, which he painted with a precise realism.

He died in 1910 in Paris. Not much else is known about him. Here is the one painting of his we found dealing with Cherbourg.

Paul Victor Jules Signac was a French Neo-Impressionist painter who, working with Georges Seurat, helped develop the Pointillist style. He started training as an architect but quickly decided he wanted to be an artist.

Here are his works for Cherbourg.

Jules Achille Noel, born Louis Assez Noel (1815-1881) was a French landscape and maritime painter who worked primarily in Brittany and Normandy.

His style was compared to Eugène Isabey and he won the praise of Baudelaire. We found only one of his paintings dealing with Cherbourg.

Charles-Louis Mozin (1806 – 1862) was born into a family of musicians, Charles-Louis Mozin studied with Xavier Leprince. Primarily a painter and lithographer of coastal landscapes, harbour views and seascapes, he exhibited at the Salons in Paris between 1824 and 1861.

Along with Eugene Isabey and Richard Parkes Bonington, Mozin was one of the first artists to paint landscapes depicting the beach and fishing port of Trouville in Normandy, which he discovered around 1825, and where he settled in 1839.

He also travelled in Germany and Holland, where he frequently exhibited his work between 1840 and 1850. Landscape paintings by Mozin are today in the museums of Amiens, Honfleur, Rouen, Toulon, Trouville, Versailles, and elsewhere, while a number of views of Paris are in the Musée Carnavalet in Paris.

Here are his works for Cherbourg.

Emile Louis Mathon (1855 – 1887) was a French painter and a student of Charles-Francois Daubigny, master of the Barbizon school, and Louis Arban.

During his career, he painted Paris and the Seine, country scenes and maritime views (fishing scenes, warships, port views), Normandy and the Channel coast. Here is the one painting we could find of his for Cherbourg.

Richard Principal Leitch (1827 – 1882) was a British painter, engraver and book author. He was the son of the painter and drawing-master, William Leighton Leitch.

Richard worked a lot for Queen Victoria. Here are his works on Cherbourg and its surroundings.

Jean-Baptiste Gustave Le Gray (1820 – 1884) has been called the most important French photographer of the nineteenth century because of his technical innovations, his instruction of other noted photographers, and the extraordinary imagination he brought to picture making.

He was an important contributor to the development of the wax paper negative. Gustave Le Gray was born in 1820 in Villiers-le-Bel, Val-d’Oise. He was originally trained as a painter, studying under François-Édouard Picot and Paul Delaroche. He lived in Italy between 1843-1846 and painted portraits and scenes of the countryside. Le Gray exhibited his paintings at the salon in 1848 and 1853. He then crossed over to photography in the early years of its development.

He was a successful portrait photographer, capturing figures such as Napoleon III and Edward VII. He also became famous for his seascapes, or marine. He spent 20 years in Cairo, Egypt, but there are few works from this period.

Theodore Gudin, a French artist, was the very first official painter/artist of the French Navy. For his work for the country, he was made a Baron.

Nikolay Nikolayevich Gritsenko was a Russian painter who specialized in maritime art and seascapes. Born in Russia, he died in France. He joined the Russian Navy, saw and painted the world.

Othon Friesz, a Le Havre born artist and lifelong friend of Raoul Dufy, painted between Normandy and Paris. Here is the one painting we found of his dealing with Cherbourg.

Louis-Philippe Crépin was a French marine painter. Together with Theodore Gudin, he was appointed as one of France’s first two Peintres de la Marine in 1830. His best known painting is “Combat de la frégate française La Bayonnaise contre la frégate anglaise l’Embuscade 14 décembre 1798”, which was commissioned by Napoleon for display at the Tuileries. It was shown at the Salon in 1801. Until 1834, it was hung in the former residence of the Empress at the Château de Saint-Cloud, then was transferred to Versailles by King Louis Philippe I. Here are the paintings he made in Cherbourg.

Here are all the artists featured on our site that have painted in Cherbourg and its immediate surroundings. There’s a map with one location per artist per city. Use the map to look at that artist’s works of art.

Mary Louisa Bruce, Countess of Elgin and Kincardine (née Lambton; 1819 – 1898) was the daughter of John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham and his second wife Louisa Elizabeth Lambton (née Grey), daughter of Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey. She travelled to Canada twice: the first time when her father went to Canada to investigate the Lower Canada Rebellion in 29 May – 1 November 1838. She later returned to Canada with her husband, James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin, from 1847 to 1853.

An accomplished artist, she studied under John Richard Coke-Smyth, alongside her sister, Lady Emily Augusta, and travel companion, Katherine Ellice. She wrote and illustrated journals and diaries of her international travels.

We found only one of her paintings dealing with Cherbourg.

Richard Parkes Bonington, a British artist who spent most of his life in France, died early (age 25), but managed to paint many paintings. His Romanticism Landscape style made him a popular painter in his generation.

We found only one of his paintings dealing with Cherbourg.

Eugene Boudin is a real Normandy based artist, born and died in Normandy. He was an Impressionist painter and a close friend of Claude Monet. He was the son of a harbour pilot who later went on and set up a picture framing and stationery shop. His son took to the business and later set up his own shop, putting him in contact with many artists. At the age of 22 he started painting.

Here is the one painting we found of his of Cherbourg.

Transport Getting There There is a direct rail line Cherbourg – Paris which makes getting there easy and fast if you are arriving from the capital. By Air Cherbourg has a small airport (Maupertus Airport) but there are no scheduled flights in or outside of France. It is mostly used for private an charter flights. By Ferry […]

One of the few things that are worth a visit in Cherbourg, or even doing a detour to visit, is the Cite de le Mer museum. The museum is quite recent, it opened its doors in the year 2002. But the building is not new. It is the former transatlantic terminal building from the glory […]

Cherbourg is world’s 2nd biggest artificial harbour, a major ferry harbour but a drab and boring city. For many travellers to and from the UK and Ireland it’s a must to pass through. But it does have a few parts that are worth a quick stopover.