George David Coulon (1822 - 1904) France. Watercolor on Paper. Measure 5 1/2"in H x 7 1/2"in W and 13"in H x 15"in W with frame. Born in Selencourt, France, George David Coulon became a prominent painter of portrait and landscapes in New Orleans during the latter part of the 19th century. His depictions of the swamps and bayous of the regions were some of the first paintings of that subject matter. He was one of the founders of the Southern Art Union and the Artists Association of New Orleans. He was also the husband of Marie-Paoline Casbergue Coulon, and they had two artist children, George Amede Coulon and Mary Elizabeth Coulon. He studied in New Orleans with Julien Hudson, Franz Joseph Fleishbein, Jacques Amans, Toussaint-Francois Bigot, Leon Pomarede, and Antoine Mondelli, and in 1880, was a founding member of the Southern Art Union. He arrived in New Orleans with his parents and became an assistant to Leon Pomarede in painting the "Transfiguration" for St. Patrick's Church, and subsequently gained his own commissions including the frescoing of the ceiling of the Old Criminal Court in the Cabildo. He taught painting at several local girls academies, and pursuing his interest in photography, he and worked with photographer John Hawley Clarke, tinting photographs with pastels and oils.