French School, 19th Century

Estimate

15,000 - 20,000 USD

bidding is closed

Description

Views of French Guyana
inscribed with different place names including Vue Prise du Camp Alata (Coswine); Chute du Yary; Iles Arouba (Maroni); Ilet des Flamands (Crique Coswine); Campement de Bonis; Ilôt du Gran-Man; Collines de Cotica; and inscribed within the portrait lower center Gran-Man Chef des Bonis
oil on canvas

Catalogue Note

This painting depicts different topographical scenes of the interior of French Guyana, in an area populated by the Boni tribe. The Gran Man or Grand Man, here depicted in the small portrait, is the chief and religious leader of the Bonis. During the 19th century, there were numerous expeditions to this area by explorers and missionaries and the present painting may have been painted as a souvenir of one of these excursions.