Vincent Courdouan

Later, he spent some time at the "École des Beaux-Arts de la Marine", a small school under the direction of the naval sculptor Jacques-Félix Brun.

[1] In 1829, he went to Paris where he studied engraving and worked in the studios of the painter Paulin Guérin, who was also originally from Toulon.

After completing his studies, he returned home and, in 1833, became a member of the Académie du Var,[1] a group that promotes the arts and sciences in that region and can boast of many prominent members; including André-Marie Ampère, Louis Lumière and Georges-Eugène Haussmann.

In 1847, he visited Algeria and achieved a gold medal at the Salon in 1848 for his painting "Battle of the Romulus".

[2] He was named Honorary Director of the Musée d'art de Toulon [fr] in 1857 and, five years later, was admitted into the Félibrige (an Occitan cultural association) by its founder, Frédéric Mistral.