Charles Balay - Interior

Charles BALAY Saint-Etienne, 1861 - Lyon, 1943 Oil on canvas Signed lower left “Balay” 56 x 46 cm (71 x 62 cm with the frame) Exhibition label at the 1938 Salon (on the back of the stretcher) Beautiful period frame Charles Balaÿ was a student of Luc-Olivier Merson and Théobald Chartran and a member of the Society of French Artists where he obtained a silver medal in 1923 and a gold medal in 1928. He is known for his interior views with great attention to detail which almost amounts to trompe-l'oeil. In 1938, he exhibited on May 11, 1839 at the Palais des Champs Elysées an “Interior” (number 58) which is our painting (exhibition label on the back of the stretcher). In this painting we find the painter's science in the very realistic, almost illusionistic rendering of his interiors. There is even a mise en abyme here with a representation of a painting within a painting!