Lot 460: Boyd Alvyk Cruise (Mississippi/New Orleans,

Boyd Alvyk Cruise (Mississippi/New Orleans, 1909-1988), "Two Columns: Chretien Point Plantation", watercolor on paper, signed and dated "1937" lower right, sight 10 3/8 in. x 7 1/2 in., matted and framed.

Note: Chretien Point Plantation was built in 1831 on the banks of Bayou Bourbeau, by Joseph Chretien and inherited by his son Hypolite. Hypolite died unexpectedly in 1839, and his wife Felicité was forced to become actively involved in the management of the 640-acre cotton plantation. With her newly found responsibilities and freedom, Felicité Chretien adopted some non-conventional feminine activities for the time: smoking cigars and playing cards, even developing a business relationship with the pirate, Jean Lafitte. According to tradition, Felicité shot a pirate on the grand staircase as he was attempting to steal her jewelry. The ghost of the pirate is said to haunt the plantation and his footsteps can be heard on the staircase. During the Great Depression, Boyd Cruise was hired by New Orleans architect Richard Koch, then director of the Federal Historic American Building Survey (HABS), to create watercolors of historic buildings in the French Quarter and Southern Louisiana, in the tradition of the Persac and Gualdi watercolors at the Notarial Archives