Diogène MAILLART (La Chaussée du Bois d'Ecu 1840... Lot 23

Diogène MAILLART (La Chaussée du Bois d'Ecu 1840 - Paris 1926) Portrait of Alzire Maillart Oil on canvas 196 x 124.5 cm Signed lower left Maillart, dated lower right 1873 Oil on canvas cut with sharp edges and lined Veiled frame Visible restoration on the lining on the back and on the face, gluing defect on the lining Restorations, scratches, wear and runs at the bottom of the canvas Provenance: Private collection Exhibition : Salon Champs Elysées, Paris, 1873, n° 986 Musée de L'Oise (on deposit) "Diogenes painted the portrait of Alzire, presented at the 1873 Salon: she appears seated in an autumn wood with golden colors. Her distinguished appearance and her long black dress with sleeves decorated with white lace give her the elegance of the Parisian bourgeoisie. She wears a white scarf tied on her chest and earrings frame her face. A long black mantilla covers her chestnut-colored hair. She seems pensive and has a romantic appearance that is further accentuated by the color of her outfit. She seems to have been the artist's muse throughout his life, the theme of women is indeed very present in his work, and how often we find in the female figures represented a striking resemblance with the young woman! All his life she was Diogenes' beloved companion by her intelligence, tenderness and devotion." Diogenes Maillart by C. THIEBLIN, 2012, p. 22. "M. Maillart has exhibited a very interesting portrait. It is a woman in black, thoughtful and thought-provoking, whose very endearing face is wonderfully highlighted by a broadly painted and as if sketched landscape, whose harmonious spots are there only to emphasize the rich and harmonious colorations of the flesh." Théodore De BANVILLE in Salon de 1873, Feuilleton du National of June 6, 1873. Diogène Maillart 1840-1926, Parisian painter Son of a literate father, who knew how to draw and was a cattle merchant in a very small rural commune 130 kilometers from Paris, Diogenes, gifted in drawing, dreamed of entering the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. It was a very difficult journey for him but he was awarded the first Grand Prix de Rome at the age of 24. On his return from the Villa Medici, official commissions began, notably for the Tuileries castle. Quickly recognized at the Salon, he opened a class of about fifty students in his studio, where Édouard Vuillard and Xavier Roussel began, the others appearing today in the Benezit. He wrote a history of art in two volumes, illustrated numerous books, was a member of the jury for the Prix de Rome, and went to New York in 1878. He created large ceilings (Bon Marché store and Paris City Hall, Chantilly castle, Neudeck in Germany) and was considered in 1892 to enter the Institute. President of the Salon des Artistes Français from 1911 to 1914 and very famous in his time, he was always considered a specialist of the nude both by the color and by the science of drawing and his portraits always strike by the presence he knew how to apply to them. Works in the great national museums, in Parisian churches. Posterity sees him very present at present in the international auction rooms where his value is constantly increasing; his paintings and drawings in the United States as well as in England and elsewhere are sought after.