Adolphe-Hippolyte Couveley, originally Couvelet (16 November 1802,

Charleville-Mézières Charleville-Mézières () is a commune of northern France and the prefecture of the Ardennes department, in the Grand Est region. Charleville-Mézières is located on the banks of the river Meuse. History Charleville and Mézières were ori ...

27 April 1867,

Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...

) was a French painter and

lithographer Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German ...

who specialized in

maritime Maritime may refer to: Geography * Maritime Alps, a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps * Maritime Region, a region in Togo * Maritime Southeast Asia * The Maritimes, the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Princ ...

subjects.

Biography

His father, , was a well known painter and provided him with his first lessons. He had his debut at the

Salon of 1834 The Salon of 1834 was an art exhibition held at the Louvre in Paris, which opened on 6 March 1834. It marked a shift to annual exhibitions of the Paris Salon which had previously taken place every two or three years. It was held during the July Mo ...

. This was followed by a trip to

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

and London in 1835. While in England, he was taken by a bit of Anglomania and began spelling his last name with a "y". The paintings he displayed at the Salon of

Dijon Dijon (, ; ; in Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Digion'') is a city in and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Côte-d'Or Departments of France, department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in eas ...

, in 1837, were the first to be signed in that style. His children would retain the spelling. In 1845, the city of Le Havre asked him to help organize the new city museum, and he became its first curator. While serving in that role, he met the young painter,

Eugène Boudin Eugène Louis Boudin (; 12 July 1824 – 8 August 1898) was one of the first French landscape painters to paint outdoors. Boudin was a marine painter, and expert in the rendering of all that goes upon the sea and along its shores. His pastels, ...

, and became his sponsor. In 1851, he was able to obtain a grant from Le Havre that would enable Boudin to study in Paris. In 1859, he was named a Knight in the

Legion of Honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and civil. Currently consisting of five classes, it was ...

. Despite these successes, his paintings always fared poorly. One had been refused at the

Salon of 1841 The Salon of 1841 was an art exhibition staged at the Louvre in Paris. Held during the July Monarchy it was the annual edition of the Salon, the country's premier art exhibition. Overseen by the Académie des Beaux-Arts, it featured entries from a ...

. His "View of Marseille", exhibited at the Salon of 1861, was scathingly dismissed by the painter and critic, . After that, his financial situation worsened considerably. On one occasion, he was caught putting his signature on some of Boudin's works.Pierre Angrand, ''Histoire des musées de province au xixe siècle : La Normandie, vol. 2'', Le Cercle d'Or, 1985 ) When he died, a large part of his debt was paid by selling the paintings he had loaned to the museum in Le Havre, depriving it of much of its collection. His works may be seen at the Musée d'art moderne André-Malraux and the

Musée National de la Marine The Musée national de la Marine (; "National Navy Museum") is a maritime museum located in the Palais de Chaillot, Trocadéro, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. It has annexes at Brest, Port-Louis, Rochefort ( Musée National de la Ma ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Couveley, Adolphe-Hippolyte 1802 births 1867 deaths 19th-century French painters French lithographers French marine artists French landscape painters People from Charleville-Mézières