48. 48AR GASTON ROULLET (1847-1925) Vue de Tourane au Vietnam 1886 signé Gaston Roullet, daté 1886 et situé à Tourane (en bas à gauche) huile sur panneau en bois 30.5 x 50.5 cm (12 x 19 7/8 in.) GASTON ROULLET (1847-1925) View of Tourane in Vietnam 1886 signed Gaston Roullet, dated 1886 and located in Tourane (lower left) oil on wood panel Provenance French private collection Gaston Roullet received the traditional title of the Peintre official de la Marine (Official Painter of the French Navy) in 1885. This prestigious title was awarded since the 19th century to traveller painters working in colonies and remote countries whose works reflected the French colonial expansion. Roullet joined the military campaigns of Tonkin in 1885 and 1886 with an artistic mission to create paintings and drawings in Indochina. His work from that period recorded landscapes of the area with a remarkable quality of execution and a very accurate technique inherited from the traditional European oil painting style of the 19th century. View of Tourane in Vietnam represents the seascape in Tourane (Da Nang). Some boats sailing on the sea, two typical Vietnamese junks near the seashore. A fisherman of the bigger junk is exchanging with another person on the smaller junk. Some local people resting on the beach. The foreground depicts a fishermen's village. The Annamese mountains on the background are contrasted by the day light and add depth to the composition. Gaston Roullet's painting is timeless and sensitive, it still amazes us today, how he captures the beauty imbued in the monotony of daily routine near the seashore through the subtle shades of his colour palette and the elegance of his brushstrokes.