Charles Pensée

He was born in Épinal to Jean-François Pensée, deputy head of the administration of the department of Vosges, and Marie-Magdelaine Collin and had two sisters, Thérèse-Amélie and Sophie.^[4] Their father died while serving as a huissier when Charles was aged fourteen and he was raised by his mother. He abandoned his studies and initially worked for his uncle Henri Joseph Hogard, a geometrical surveyor, who gave him his first training in drawing, then for Monsieur Goury, the Corps des ponts et chaussées' chief engineer for Vosges department.^[5] · ^[6]

When Goury resigned, Pensée started collaborated with the French chief engineer Jean-Baptiste Prosper Jollois and took part in the collecting Jollois carried out for the Antiquités remarquables du département des Vosges^[7] He contributed several illustrations of the Grand archaeological site.^[8]

When Jollois changed jobs in 1822 Pensée followed him to Orléans.^[7] Wishing to work as a drawing tutor there, he went to Paris to train in Monsieur Hubert's studio, notably in watercolour.^[9] On returning to Orléans he taught drawing in public establishments and as a private tutor.^[7] At the lycée, during the 1864–1865 school year, one of his pupils was Paul Gauguin, as shown by Swiss chalet beside the Loire, a drawing sold at auction on 16 June 2019 at the château d'Artigny.^[10] Pensée died at Orléans and his funeral occurred there on 13 July 1871.^[5] He is buried in the grand cimetière d'Orléans.^[11]

Several of his drawings show the banks of the river Loire and Lorraine. He particularly portrayed architectural views. The musée de la Marine de Loire in Châteauneuf-sur-Loire (Loiret) has many prints by him, as does the musée Crozatier. The bibliothèque multimédia intercommunale d'Épinal has a collection of his drawings showing the park at the château d'Épinal, owned by Monsieur Doublat.

Charles Pensée notably portrayed monuments or landscapes in:^[12]

• Bou (Loiret) : church in Bou, showing effects of the Loire's 1866 flood ;
• Blessing of the dragon's grotto at La Chapelle-Saint-Mesmin (Loiret) by Félix Dupanloup, bishop of Orléans, in 1858 ;
• Châteaudun (Eure-et-Loir) : musée des Beaux-Arts et d'Histoire Naturelle, Château de Châteaudun, Dunois wing, charcoal, 58,8 x 44,8 cm;^[13]
• Châteauneuf-sur-Loire (Loiret) ;
• Cusset (Allier) : church of Saint-Saturnin ;
• La Ferté-Saint-Aubin (Loiret) : château de la Grisonnière et de Chartraine ;
• The old pont d'Olivet, c. 1842, oil on canvas, 49 x 64,5 cm, musée des Beaux-Arts d'Orléans;^[14]
• Grand (Vosges), Grand archaeological site ;
• Jargeau (Loiret) : effects of the 1856 Loire flood ;
• Le Malesherbois (Loiret) : château de Rouville, Malesherbes ;
• Mennetou-sur-Cher ;
• Méréville (Seine-et-Oise) ;
• Rère (Loir-et-Cher) ;
• Sandillon (Loiret) : Allou, La Porte estate ;
• Sully-la-Chapelle (Loiret) : château de Claireau ;
• Vichy (Allier) ;
• Vienne-en-Val (Loiret) : Les Prateaux estate ;
• Villeneuve-l'Étang (Seine-et-Oise) ;
• Stonemasons at Saint-Euverte church, 1826, watercolour on pencil on vellum, 32,8 x 24,9 cm, musée des Beaux-Arts d’Orléans;^[15]
• View of place du grand marché, 1830, watercolour, highlighted in white gouache and vegetable gum on black crayon, on vellum, 43,8 x 56,4 cm, musée des Beaux-Arts d’Orléans;^[16]
• View of the old hôtel-Dieu, 1842, watercolour, with white gouache highlights on pencil, on vellum, 40,8 x 56,3 cm, musée des Beaux-Arts d’Orléans.^[17]                          

• Works by Charles Pensée
• 
  The old pont d'Olivet, Orléans, musée historique et archéologique de l'Orléanais.
• 
  M. Doublat's garden in Épinal. Kiosk, wash of a scene at the château d'Épinal, bibliothèque multimédia intercommunale d'Épinal.^[18]
• 
  Inauguration of the “Le Papin” steam packet, Châteauneuf-sur-Loire, musée de la Marine de Loire.
• 
  View of château des Hauts of La Chapelle-Saint-Mesmin, lithograph by Romagnesi after Charles Pensée.
• 
  House, said to be that of Diane de Poitiers, lithograph after Charles Pensée^[19]