I am looking for information about an artist who drew portraits in the
1850's in the Pennsylvania area. He signed the portrait that I own
from my family: H.C. LECOURBE, 1857. It is a oil portrait of an old
matriarch from the Webb family in Pennsylvania. Is this painting
valuable? It appears to have the original gilded frame. Was he a
famous painter? Was he just a travelling artist who made money door to
door? The most complete answer with references to more information
about LECOURBE will win the reward money. You have to prove he
existed, not just make up a story.

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Request for Question Clarification by rebeccam-ga on 30 May 2002 17:28 PDT

Hello! 
 
I am interested in getting to the bottom of this question, although as
you've heard from the comments below, the answer is elusive.  Let me
start here...  Do any of the images on the page below resemble the
subject of your painting?
 
<a href="http://rbhayes.org/lwh_index.htm">http://rbhayes.org/lwh_index.htm</a> 
 
I eagerly await your reply! 
 
Best, Rebecca 

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Clarification of Question by toado-ga on 31 May 2002 12:59 PDT

Rebecca, 

The woman in the middle photo, far right, looks like a younger version
of the woman in my portrait. She has her hair the same way, and it is
dark. The curious thing about this portrait is that she has her
spectacles sitting on her head, kind of like we do with sun glasses.
This is quite unusual, I am told, for a portrait of this era.
The Webb family that I am related to included my uncle, E. Morrison
Webb, who died about twenty years ago. His nickname was Bucky, and he
donated most of his money to Mercersberg Academy in Pennsylvania. His
wife was my father's sister.

andy

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Request for Question Clarification by kinglouie-ga on 04 Jun 2002 22:39 PDT

can you please send a photo? Perhaps we will be able to provide you
with information or an auction estimate.
I recommend taking the photo from a slight angle.  If you put the work
on the floor and stand between the light source and the object, you
will be
at an angle and the image tends to come out a bit better.

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Clarification of Question by toado-ga on 05 Jun 2002 12:33 PDT

I need an email address to send the photo to.

I am not answering it because if I understood you correctly you have
expectations to find information about the artist. However, since it
was not answered by now, I thought it would be nice if you got some
information.

So - 
(1) There's no famous artist by this name or signature. 
(2) This nick in general is related to Napoleon's loyals in 19th
century France. That can mean nothing.

If you like the painting, it doesn't matter that it's "worthless" - it
has worth to you. If you don't like it, you can always contribute it
to some institute (hospital, special school, etc.) in which people
would appreciate a paintin even if it's "worthless". You can also try
the Pennsylvanian Histocial Society/Museum - they might be interested
in it although it is from an unknown artist (when all of that fails,
you can ship it to me ;-)

Hope that helped.

Dear toado-ga,

have you thought about estimating the painting?

://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&q=painting+estimate+free

You might get some information about your painting.

I don't think my earlier post went through, so here I go again. I
apologize if this is the second posting.

The closest thing I have found is a listing for a Chas. H. Le Courbe
who fought with the 74th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment and
died during the Civil War. Several men listed their occupations as
painters/artisans, but I have not been able to obtain a copy of the
muster lists to see if he was one of them or to get any other
information about him. Since this question is expiring, however, I
thought that perhaps this information would at least give you a
possible starting point.

You can find the 74th Pennsylvania Infantry online at:
http://www.olypen.com/tinkers/74th%20Pennsylvania/Webpage/

The online copy of information on Chas. H. Le Courbe is at:
http://www.olypen.com/tinkers/74th%20Pennsylvania/Webpage/Lmembers.htm

Good luck,
murkypon

toado,

Thanks for the clarification!  I wanted to let you know that I'm still
working on the question, but am not having much luck finding more
information than has already been provided here. I certainly will post
anything I find as a comment, if it's not complete enough to qualify
as an answer.

Best,
Rebecca