Jan Lavezzari (January 3, 1876 – May 11, 1947Jan Lavezzari
Mutual Art.) was a gifted painter, born in

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

from a well known architect: Emile Lavezzari. Jan studied engineering and then moved to

Berck-sur-Mer Berck (), sometimes referred to as Berck-sur-Mer (, literally ''Berck on Sea''), is a commune in the northern French department of Pas-de-Calais. It lies within the Marquenterre regional park, an ornithological nature reserve. Geography Situ ...

, northern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in 1900, where he decided to become a professional painter instead, and settled there. Jan Lavezzari produced several oil paintings that are seemingly valuable today. He also painted murals in a few local public buildings such as 'Le Casino de la Forêt' in Touquet-Paris-Plage, the local hospital 'L'Hôpital Maritime' -built by his father- and the town hall. Biographers record that Jan Lavezzari liked the outdoor, adventure, and that he preferred the company of

fishermen A fisher or fisherman is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishers may be professional or recreat ...

, who often took him out to

sea The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...

. Jan Lavezzari is best known for his paintings, which generally portray

sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminology ...

s. His engineering education in this maritime environment probably prompted him to realize that if a

sail A sail is a tensile structure—which is made from fabric or other membrane materials—that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails may ...

is placed horizontally, it could become a flying

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...

, so on February 15, 1904, at the age of 27 years, he tested a double

lateen A lateen (from French ''latine'', meaning "Latin") or latin-rig is a triangular sail set on a long yard mounted at an angle on the mast, and running in a fore-and-aft direction. The settee can be considered to be an associated type of the same o ...

sail

hang glider Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised foot-launched heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite frame covered ...

from the Berck beach sand dunes.

References

External links

*G. Dilly, Curator of the ''Musée de Berck'

https://web.archive.org/web/20080724151154/http://www2c.ac-lille.fr/jlavezzari/jan_lavezzari.htm] *Additional art

1876 births 1947 deaths Aviation inventors Aviation pioneers 20th-century aviation 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists French male painters 19th-century French male artists {{aviation-bio-stub