Art & Craft
“Dry River, Port of Spain” (c.1850) Michel Jean Cazabon (1813-1888) Watercolour 215x300mm Courtesy Belmont Harris Trust/MacLean Publishing Limited
a series of eighteen lithographs, Views of Trinidad. In 1857 he published a second series, Album of Trinidad, and in 1860 contributed to two other series, Views of Demerara and Album Martiniquaise. Cazabon’s œuvre is extensive; his work shows a wide knowledge of media – oils, watercolours, gouache, gesso, etc. Although he was primarily a watercolourist and landscape artist, both his formal and informal portraits are highly valued, and his illustrations for the newspapers of the day, of important historic significance. His sketches for the Illustrated London News give us an insight into life in Trinidad, showing the riots of 1845, the trial of the rioters, the great fire of Port of Spain of 1850 and, on a more social side, “Ball on board Her Majesty’s Ship Wellesley” in Port of Spain. In 1860, Cazabon moved to Martinique, where he lived and worked in Saint Pierre, but his success was limited and he returned to Trinidad about 1870. He taught art privately and at both Queen’s Royal College and St. Mary’s College and continued to paint from his studio on Edward Street, Port of Spain, for a diminishing clientele. He died in virtual poverty on 20th November 1888. He was buried in the Lapeyrouse Cemetery. In 2010 his grave was restored by the conservation group, Citizens for Conservation. In Trinidad, Cazabon’s most important patron was Lord Harris, the
English Governor from 1848 to 1854. The Harris Collection of 44 paintings, now displayed at the family home at Belmont in Kent, England, is perhaps the most important collection of nineteenth Century visual references of Trinidad. Several other less extensive, but important collections were commissioned by William Burnley, the Scottish-American planter, John Lamont and the Earl of Dundonald among them. Cazabon married Louise Rosalie Trolard (1821-1885) in Paris and had three children, two of whom were born in Paris: Rose Alexandrine, born in 1844, and Louis Michel, born in 1845. Their last child, a daughter, Jeanne Anna Camille, was born in Trinidad in 1852. Jeanne Anna Camille married Edmund Basilon. Their children, Andrea, Rita, Henry or “Harry” and Marie Louise were well known for their contribution to the arts and music. Harry was one of San Fernando’s leading “Mas’ men”. Their descendents include the Lasalle, Wears and Tanker families, many of whom are still involved in the arts, including musicians, the late Andre Tanker and Andre Lasalle, artist Peter Shim and photographer David Wears. Today Cazabon’s paintings are highly prized in Trinidad and Tobago and appear regularly at auction house sales in the United Kingdom.
Ins & Outs of Trinidad and Tobago
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