Ferdinand du Puigaudeau (1864-1930) Sailboats at sunset Oil on canvas signed lower right 33 x 41 cm Bibliography: > Antoine Laurentin, Catalogue raisonné des peintures de Ferdinand du Puigaudeau (1864-1930), tome II, éditions Antoine Laurentin, Paris, 2023, reproduced p. 245 under n°II-359 Condition report: Framed, lined French painter who received a typical nineteenth-century academic education, but quickly freed himself from overly strict teachings. Inspired by the old masters, particularly Caravaggio, light plays a central role in his work. A friend of Charles Laval and a disciple of Paul Gauguin, he played a part in the emergence of the Pont-Aven school. His meeting with the art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel played a decisive role in the artist's recognition within the Parisian art world. A trip to Venice confirmed his trajectory towards Neo-Impressionism. From 1907, he moved to the manor house at Kervaudu and devoted himself to bringing up his daughter and to his art. He travelled the region, painting sunsets, the sea and the wild coastline. At the end of his life, he said to his daughter: "There are still so many beautiful things I would have liked to paint. Look at that golden light on the mulberry trees, that light whose secrets I have so long sought. It's hard to leave you both and to leave the light, the play of colours..." (MLD)