Jan Lavezzari (January 3, 1876 – May 11, 1947Jan Lavezzari
Mutual Art.) was a gifted painter, born in

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

from a well known architect: Emile Lavezzari. Jan studied engineering and then moved to Berck-sur-Mer, northern

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in 1900, where he decided to become a professional painter instead, and settled there. Jan Lavezzari produced several oil paintings that are seemingly valuable today. He also painted murals in a few local public buildings such as 'Le Casino de la Forêt' in Touquet-Paris-Plage, the local hospital 'L'Hôpital Maritime' -built by his father- and the town hall. Biographers record that Jan Lavezzari liked the outdoor, adventure, and that he preferred the company of

fishermen A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishermen may be professional or recr ...

, who often took him out to

sea A sea is a large body of salt water. There are particular seas and the sea. The sea commonly refers to the ocean, the interconnected body of seawaters that spans most of Earth. Particular seas are either marginal seas, second-order section ...

. Jan Lavezzari is best known for his paintings, which generally portray

sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminology ...

s. His engineering education in this maritime environment probably prompted him to realize that if a

sail A sail is a tensile structure, which is made from fabric or other membrane materials, that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails may b ...

is placed horizontally, it could become a flying

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

, so on February 15, 1904, at the age of 27 years, he tested a double

lateen A lateen (from French ''latine'', meaning "Latin") or latin-rig is a triangular sail set on a long Yard (sailing) , yard mounted at an angle on the mast (sailing) , mast, and running in a fore-and-aft direction. The Settee (sail), settee can be ...

sail

hang glider Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised, fixed-wing heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite frame covered ...

from the Berck beach sand dunes.

References

External links

*G. Dilly, Curator of the ''Musée de Berck'

https://web.archive.org/web/20080724151154/http://www2c.ac-lille.fr/jlavezzari/jan_lavezzari.htm] *Additional art

1876 births 1947 deaths Aviation inventors French aviation pioneers 20th-century aviation 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists French male painters 19th-century French male artists {{aviation-bio-stub