Intimate scene - French school of the late 19th century

Oil on canvas, French school of the late nineteenth century, dated 1874 and signed lower right (mysterious signature) but also top right (partly hidden by the frame and just as mysterious). This double signature is rather rare on a table, it may be the same signature, because the first two readable letters are in both cases "R. L ...". We think that our painting could be the resumption in smaller format (why not by the painter himself) of a large painting of Salon (such as that of 1874), this would explain all the better the annotation "Paris" .

Three women in a workshop, at the bottom a large painting, others smaller on the ground, books on a chair-stool, sketches, a mandolin ... The painter, holding brushes, palette and hand-supports, observes an album of paintings opened on a full-length female portrait. A woman from the seated world (the client - the mother?) Turns to a young woman (her daughter?) In anticipation of her approval. No doubt it is a consultation before the pose of the latter. Particularly noteworthy is the excellent rendering of carpets and fabrics, and more particularly the textures and draped dresses with troll adjusted to the body in vogue among fashionable women in the years 1870-1880.

"In the second half of the nineteenth century, a significant number of women painters, French and foreign, are professionally active in Paris, and exhibit at the Salon, the annual event of contemporary art.In contrast to their colleagues, they have to to position oneself in relation to various prejudices, in particular that of dilettantism which influences their stylistic choices.On the other hand, their personal writings (correspondences, memoirs, diaries) highlight the true modernity of their life and their way of thinking. " Denise Christmas - Women painters in the second half of the nineteenth century.


State: painting restored by our restaurateur. Several thin cuts and tears taken with slight reinstatements, absolutely without important repaints, refinished. Original key frame. Presented in its period frame in gilded wood with gold leaf (wear and tear) richly adorned with a row of lanceolate leaves, a row of pearls, a large frieze of acanthus and a row of pearls and asparagus tips on the edge.


Note: rare subject, very detailed and very colorful painting.


Napoleon III period.


Dimensions:
Frame 81 cm x 59 cm
Frame 106 cm x 83 cm