French School Of The Mid-19th Century, Entourage Of Hippolyte Flandrin, Christ With A Reed

Pastel on canvas, 61 x 50 cm Very good condition, some restorations. Unframed. Stenciled mark on the back: A.Colson, manufacturer of woody canvases for pastels. 3 rue du Dragon. This pastel recalls the works of Hippolyte Flandrin, particularly his frescoes, where some faces present the same frontality and the same depth in the gaze. Note the proximity in particular in the frescoes created for the church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris. The very accomplished technique of this pastel, applied on a layer of pumice stone preparation, suggests that it comes from an artist close to Flandrin if not Flandrin himself. Also, similarities in the physical type exist with the characters of Michel Dumas. Our work, in which the links with the Lyon school are visible, is most likely due to an artist from the city of Lyon working in Paris, perhaps a student of Ingres as is the case for the two painters mentioned above. On the reverse, the stenciled mark of the canvas manufacturer was used in the interval between 1843 and 1851.