Théophile Narcisse Chauvel (1831-1909), Portrait Of A Woman In The Painter's Studio, Oil

Théophile Narcisse Chauvel (1831-1909)
Portrait of a woman in the painter's workshop
Oil on panel
41 x 26 cm (panel)
53.5 x 38 cm (frame)
Signed lower right: Th.Chauvel
Good general condition - A clean up - frame accidents - at the back still life of fruits

Student of François Edouard Picot and Jean-Joseph Bellel, Théophile Chauvel entered the Imperial School of Fine Arts on March 4, 1854. The same year he won the second Prix de Rome for historical landscape. His first submission to the Salon dates from 1855, it is a landscape, Souvenir of the Parc de Neuilly. He painted and exhibited until 1859. At that time, he devoted himself to drypoint, lithography and etching from 1861 to 1867, representing, among other things, views of the forest of Fontainebleau, then reproductions of works by the masters of the Barbizon school, the school of nature where he met Jules Dupré and Jean Baptiste Camille Corot. He was a member of the Society of Etchers between 1862 and 1865, then, later, of the Society of French Etchers. It is in his engravings interpreting Corot that he asserts all his mastery. He returned to painting with landscapes of Île-de-France, the forest of Fontainebleau and Normandy. Chauvel was a medalist at the Salon in 1870, 1873 and 1878. He obtained the medal of honor from the Salon of French Artists for the first time awarded to the engraving section in 1881. He was awarded the grand prize of the Salon in 1889 and 1900.

Portraits and human representations are quite rare in Chauvel's work. We recognize here the influence and style of Corot in the representation of this woman with austere features, placed standing in the middle of the artist's universe and works.

An exhibition was devoted to Chauvel's graphic landscapes at the Museum of Art, History and Archeology of Evreux from October 2013 to January 2014: https://issuu.com/museeshautenormandie/docs/dossier_pedagogique_chauvel_-_musee