Charles-Émile de Tournemine

His father, Bernard Vacher de Tournemine (1788-1861), was an army officer who was not married to Charles' mother, Marie Anne Victoire Roubaud (1783-1852).

[citation needed] In 1825, he entered the École des Mousses [fr], a secondary school operated by the French Navy, and served as a cabin boy on the schooner, L’Amaranthe.

While in Paris, he lived with an aunt and began paying visits to the workshop of the painter, Eugène Isabey; becoming acquainted with several notable figures in the art world.

The following year, he sold a significant part of his collection to finance an extended visit to the places he had seen while in the Navy, as well as the coastal areas of North Africa.

After the events of the "Bloody Week" of the Paris Commune, he quit his position as curator and returned to Toulon, where he died in 1872.