Details

Name

Charles de Tournemine

Brief Biography

1812–72, French

Occupation

Sailor; soldier; designer; artist; collector; conservator

Description

Charles de Tournemine is part of the provenance/ownership history of Sir William Burrell's collection for the work entitled 'Portrait of a Woman' by Camille Corot.

Charles de Tournemine was a French Orientalist artist and a grandson of the renowned archaeologist Jean-Charles Vacher de Tournemine (1755–1840). Born illegitimately, his father was a French army officer, Bernard Vacher de Tournemine. Charles was brought up primarily by his mother but his father was always interested in him and assisted him numerous times throughout his career.

In 1825 he joined the navy as a cadet and travelled extensively throughout the Mediterranean and the Near East, an experience which was to leave a lasting impression on him and influenced his later artistic endeavours. Receiving an eye injury on active duty, in 1831 he left the navy and joined an artillery regiment of which his father was colonel.

Having displayed an early aptitude for drawing, in 1840 he moved to Paris, joining the Ministry of War as a designer. In his spare time he enrolled in the studio of Eugène Isabey where he met, among other fellow students, Boudin and Jongkind with whom he became friendly. In 1843 and 1844 he travelled to Normandy, Picardy and Brittany on painting expeditions, the subjects of which, unsurprisingly, were sea and landscapes.

Frequenting Parisian artistic circles, he started to buy works by his contemporaries, in time amassing a large and notable collection. A particular friend was Camille Corot, who gifted de Tournemine a painting, 'Fontainebleau-Le Rageur', now in a private collection. From 1846–53 he and his friend, the artist François-Louis Français, wrote and published annually folios of lithographs. Entitled 'Les Artists Contemporains', it featured works by Delacroix, Isabey, and Ziem, to name but a few.

He exhibited at the Salon for the first time in 1846 and by 1848 had seven paintings shown. Employed in 1852 in the conservation department of the Musée du Luxembourg, after the death of his mother that same year de Tournemine asked for a leave of absence, sold part of his art collection and journeyed to the Near East to paint. From then onwards his artistic style was to be 'orientaliste' and he showed his first works at the 1855 Exposition Universelle where they were positively received.

By the time his father died in 1861 de Tournemine was a successful artist and a recipient of the Légion d'Honneur, whose works were being bought for State Museums. Moving in prestigious high society, he corresponded with the Goncourt brothers, his experiences in the east being credited as an influence on their work 'Manette Saloman'. In 1869 he accompanied Empress Eugènie on her visit to Egypt for the inauguration of the Suez Canal.

Returning to Paris, he was given responsibility for looking after the art collection at the Musée du Luxembourg during the siege of Paris. In ill health, he returned to his native Toulon the year before his death in 1872. On 15 April 1880 the remaining part of his collection was sold in Paris.