Vincent Courdouan is considered the leader of the Provençal school (Toulouse school): He is not only a great marine painter, a landscaper of the Var hinterland and coast but also an orientalist painter and above all a draftsman skilled. The catalog of his works lists 170 drawings and charcoals, 115 watercolors and gouaches, 145 pastels and 175 oils. 1848 Gold medal at the Paris Salon for “The Battle of the Romulus”, a naval battle scene which pitted this French frigate against 3 British vessels and which took place between the Hyères Islands and the Toulon Narrows, February 13, 1814. The Toulon museum notably contains a masterful work: “The Valley of Anguish”, painted in 1887: a chiaroscuro mountain landscape, with rocks lit by the pink light of the setting sun in a completely wild place,