Above: Artist unknown, Pierre Douville, oil on canvas, 74.9 x 20.8 cm. Collection of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. Gift of Cynthia Douville Willis and Mrs. Sarah A. Tinkham. 

Homecoming

Pierre Douville 

This painting is the only known portrait of a person born in Prince Edward Island during the period of French rule (1720-1758). Pierre Douville was born in 1745 at Havre-Saint-Pierre (St. Peter’s Harbour), his parents, François Douville and Marie Roger, were from France.

In 1758, during the Seven Years’ War, the British captured Île Saint-Jean, as P.E.I. was then called. With some 3000 other French and Acadian settlers, the Douville family was deported to France. After the war, the Douvilles moved to the French islands of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon where they were involved in trade and the cod-fishery.

Pierre Douville, a skilled seaman and entrepreneur, moved to Rhode Island where he operated a trading business. In Providence, he married Cynthia Aborn, the daughter of Colonel Samuel Aborn. During the American Revolution, Douville served as an officer in the American navy aboard French and American warships. For his distinguished services, he was made a member of the prestigious Order of the Cincinnati.

During the French Revolution, Douville also served in the navy of the French Republic and took command of the warship L’Impétueux. During a battle at sea against the British, he was wounded and taken prisoner. He died on June 14, 1794 at Forton Prison near Portsmouth, England.

This painting is from the collection of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. It was given to Brown in 1887 by Douville's granddaughters, Cynthia Douville Willis and Sarah A. Tinkham. Its painter is unidentified, but it is thought to have been executed in France in 1794, shortly before Douville's death.