Paris1972-Versailles2003

I told you will be around Honfleur for a while, bear with me please! Honfleur is special if you have read the previous posts. I can probably do a blog only on Honfleur! Beautiful Norman skies nice harbor with an ever bigger beach, and just arts, architecture and history all around you. I could go on …..let me tell you on curiosities of Honfleur, part II !!!  Hope you enjoy it as I The house of Jean-Francois Doublet is a building located at numbers 29 and 31 rue des Capucins . This is near where now rue Jean Doublet was our apartment in Honfleur. The house is dated 1627 according to an inscription. It was acquired by the privateer corsair Jean Doublet when he withdraws to Honfleur to ease his activities. Jean François Doublet was born in Honfleur in the last months of 1655, and died on December 20, 1728 in Barneville-la-Bertran. Jean Doublet remains unknown, despite a long career at sea of forty-eight years, to say the least very heterogeneous. Recognized as an excellent pilot, he is the privileged witness to the entire maritime history of the time of Louis XIV, of which he left us a testimony, reconstituted at the end of his life, having lost twice all the the writings in his logbook. He is undoubtedly the most prolific privateer corsair, having left his memoirs written with care and thoroughness. A bust recalls his stays in Honfleur.The museums of Honfleur recalls his stories on the mariners museum here in French: Naval museum on Jean Francois Doublet The statue to the fallen mariners who died for France sits at Quai Lepaulmier on the front side of the St Leonard Church ; (see post) The statues reads in English as the French rememberance to the soldiers and mariners of the district fallen for France ; it was done in 1913. The Fountain of the mussels pickers of Honfleur is at Place de la Porte de Rouen. This fountain, located on the roundabout in front of the media library, “Les moulières” refers to these women who collected mussels by the kilos (kg), often risking their lives. Honfleur wished to pay tribute to those who for decades worked hard in the estuary and on the Ratier bank to feed their families. This extremely difficult and perilous profession gradually disappeared over time and died out definitively in 1977. See next post for resto see it here! The rue de’homme de bois, starts at place Hamelin near the Lieutenance preserve a wood beam with the image of a men sculpture in relief’s rememberance when Honfleur was a port of slaves. Near the museum Eugene Boudin, he had rented a room in 1889 to paint the pastel colors of the sky that the museum conserves a few examples. This street at the corner with Rue Varin was the object of many paintings by painters such as Alexander Dubourg that met the families of fisherman. The rue de l’Homme de bois continued on the rue Alphonse Allais that connected with the Impasse de Neubourg where the mother of Charles Baudelaire stayed, the house is no longer there. It was at 41 rue du Puits, in this cobbled street which rises behind Saint-Catherine Church, that the painter Henri de Saint-Delis lived the last years of his life, until 1949. It is precisely on this 18C house backing onto and communicating with a beautiful 19C building ,accessible by no 43, that the Boelen family set their sights on, in order to set up a boutique hotel, a small 9-room establishment, with seminar room and garden, aiming for 5-star classification. Henri de Saint-Delis, Henri Liénard known as “de Saint-Delis”, born April 4, 1878 in Marconne (Pas-de-Calais) and died November 15, 1949 in Honfleur, is a French painter. He is buried in Honfleur. A bit on Henri de Saint-Delis work : Artnet site on Henri de Saint Delis paintings Johan Barthold Jongkind  born in Lattrop (Netherlands) June 3, 1819 –died at Saint-Égrève (Isère) February 9, 1891 was a Dutch painter, watercolourist and engraver, considered one of the precursors of Impressionism. His taste for the seas attracted him to the Normandy coast, to Le Havre, Sainte-Adresse, Honfleur (where he lived at 29 rue du Puits) and Trouville, among others. In 1862, thanks to Moret, a pupil of Isabey, he made the acquaintance of Eugène Boudin on whom he had a great influence. Likewise, Claude Monet, whom he met in 1862 during joint stays at the Ferme Saint-Siméon in Honfleur, recognized his debt to Jongkind: “it is to him that I owe the final education of my eye” More on Jongkind here: Jongkind site on his time in Honfleur Jean Marie LeGuen lives still at 25 rue du Puits, artist well known in Honfleur for his caricatures and his striking portraits, announces the color in the front of his workshop. With humor, as it should be in the land of Alphonse Allais! More on him here: Official Leguen of Honfleur There you go folks, a bit of new , some old, and all with new photos of my Honfleur ,as said always worth a visit.  Again, hope you enjoy this post on Curiosities of Honfleur, part II !!! as I. And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!