Georges Ricard-Cordingley Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Late 19th century mauve ink drawing on paper of fishing boats at harbour by noted French artist Georges Ricard-Cordingley. The drawing is signed bottom left and carries various annotations and another small sketch. The drawing is presented in a period wood frame under glass with a double card mount. Provenance: This drawing came from the estate of the artist's daughter who had acquired it directly from her father. A charming drawing capturing the scene fishing boats at harbour with extensive detail of the rigging and sails. It seems to be a preparatory sketch as it carries extensive colour and other annotations. There is also a smaller sketch bottom right which shows the boat from a different perspective. The figures are well annotated and Cordingley has achieved great detail but with a lightness of touch. The sketch is even more interesting as it is completed in mauve ink. This was a fashionable and technical innovation at the time as the colour was only 'invented' in the late 1850s. A really interesting, lovely and evocative drawing. Georges Ricard was born on January 30, 1873 in Lyon, son of Prosper Louis Ricard and Georgina Marie Cordingley. He spent part of his childhood in Lyon and Boulogne-sur-Mer. He displayed early gifts for drawing. He lost his father in 1885. He began his training around 1887, becoming a pupil of Jean-Charles Cazin, a landscape painter from Pas-de-Calais and the Côte d'Opale. He then joined the School of Fine Arts in Lyon and remained there from 1888 to 1889. He moved to Paris in 1890, where he studied at the Académie Julian as a pupil of Benjamin Constant, Louis Martinet and Jules Lefebvre. He lost his mother around 1892, went to England to his maternal family and added his mother's name to his name. He embarked for the North Sea with the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen and carried out his first studies. In 1894, he met with great success at the court of Queen Victoria. He embarked a second time, in 1895, still for the North Sea and produced numerous studies of waves of clouds, of the port and of portraits of fishermen which he exhibited in Paris and London. He embarked a third time, around 1896, in the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean with the Société des Travaux de Mer and was shipwrecked in Newfoundland. In 1901, he set up his studio in Boulogne-sur-Mer. He divided his time between London, Paris and Boulogne-sur-Mer and painted portraits and seascapes. He realized the decoration of the casino of Wimereux. He travelled to Australia, where he exhibited from 1909 to 1910. In 1911, he married Suzanne Giraud-Teulon, the daughter of historian Alexis Giraud-Teulon, and had three children, Éliane, Louis and Gabrielle. During the First World War, he was assigned to Lyon as a stretcher...