01 Classic Works of Art, Marine Paintings - With Footnotes, #89

Jack Laycox, (1921 - 1984 San Francisco, CA) 

"Beach at Honfleur", France 

Watercolor on Arches paper 

22.25" H x 29.5" W

Private collection

Honfleur is a commune in the Calvados department in northwestern France. It is located on the southern bank of the estuary of the Seine across from le Havre and very close to the exit of the Pont de Normandie. Its inhabitants are called Honfleurais.

It is especially known for its old, beautiful picturesque port, characterized by its houses with slate-covered frontages, painted many times by artists, including in particular Gustave Courbet, Eugène Boudin, Claude Monet and Johan Jongkind, forming the école de Honfleur which contributed to the appearance of the Impressionist movement. The Sainte-Catherine church, which has a bell tower separate from the principal building, is the largest church made out of wood in France.

Located on the estuary of one of the principal rivers of France with a safe harbour and relatively rich hinterland, Honfleur profited from its strategic position from the start of the Hundred Years' War. The town's defences were strengthened by Charles V in order to protect the estuary of the Seine from attacks from the English. This was supported by the nearby port of Harfleur. However, Honfleur was taken and occupied by the English in 1357 and from 1419 to 1450. When under French control, raiding parties often set out from the port to ransack the English coasts, including partially destroying the town of Sandwich, in Kent, England, in the 1450s.  More on Honfleur

Jack Laycox (1921-1984)...Born: Auburn, CA Studied: University of California (Berkeley), San Francisco State College Member: Society of Western Artists. Jack Laycox grew up in Northern California and after receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree, took a job producing technical illustrations for the Atomic Energy Commission. During the 1950s and 1960s, he did commercial illustrations for the Donald Art Company. Throughout his career, Laycox has produced fine art watercolor paintings and lectured on art. He has exhibited in American Watercolor Society annuals and been active in regional Northern California art clubs and shows. More on Jack Laycox

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01 Marine Painting, Nicola D'Ascenzo's Harbor scene - With Footnotes, #81

Nicola D'Ascenzo (Pennsylvania / Italy, 1871-1954) 

Harbor scene, c. 1904

Watercolor

17 x 13 in.

Private collection

Nicola D'Ascenzo (September 25, 1871, Torricella Peligna, Italy – April 13, 1954, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was an Italian-born American stained glass designer, painter and instructor. He is best known for creating stained glass windows for the Washington Memorial Chapel in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania; the Nipper Building in Camden, New Jersey; and the Folger Shakespeare Library and Washington National Cathedral, both in Washington, D.C.

He was born in Torricella Peligna, Italy, into a family of artists, metalworkers and armor makers. His immediate family emigrated to the United States in 1882, and settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Working as a mural painter while in his teens, he attended night classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He attended and then taught at the Pennsylvania Museum School, where he met his wife, fellow instructor Myrtle Dell Goodwin (1864–1954). They married in 1894, and moved to Italy, where he studied at the Scuola Libera in Rome. The couple returned to Philadelphia in 1896, where he worked as a portrait painter and opened D'Ascenzo Studios, initially an interior decorating firm. More on Nicola D'Ascenzo

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