Claudine moved from her native Cannes, France, to California after post-graduate studies at the University of Nice. She developed a passion for the history of her adoptive Golden State and in particular for the adventures of the numerous and colorful French nationals who came to California in the 19th century looking for gold and new opportunities, among them talented artists.

Claudine’s books on gold rush California pioneers are now available in French on Amazon.fr & amazon.com: La Fortune Sourit aux Audacieux and in English with Arcadia Publishing: French San Francisco. Her art books include Splendide Californie, Impressions of the Golden State by French Artists & “Paul Frenzeny’s Chinatown Sketches, An artist’s fascination with San Francisco’s Chinese Quarter” both with the Book Club of California; “Chronicling the West for Harper’s” University of Oklahoma Press; “Jules Tavernier, Artist and Adventurer,” with Scott Shields & Alfred Harrison. Pomegranate Press. Barbizon-by-the-Pacific, the riotous beginnings of the Monterey Art Colony, Galina Hill Press. Several became exhibits at the California Historical Society, the Crocker Museum, the Monterey Museum of Art, and at the Grace Hudson Museum in Ukiah. She was knighted for her work by the French Ministry of Culture. She is presently at work on a biography with the working title of Founding San Francisco, the life story of French Swiss captain Jean-Jacques Vioget.