Prevot Painting Portrait Of A Man With Red Mustache In Art Nouveau Costume 1895 Signed Hst

Oil on canvas, portrait of a man, signed lower right F. PREVOT 95 (for 1895). The work, with its precise and frontal realism, represents a young man dressed in the fashion of the late 19th century. He wears a white shirt with a high starched collar, tied with a black bow tie, and a fitted dark jacket, typical of bourgeois and urban costumes of the 1890s. The very short haircut, parted on the side, and the carefully maintained red mustache complete this serious and neat presentation. The identity of the model is not documented. It is clearly not a well-known personality, but rather an intimate or family portrait, commissioned to assert status and respectability. The hieratic posture, perfectly facing, combined with the clear and direct gaze, gives the model a presence that is both dignified and solemn. Beyond the strict resemblance, the painter knew how to breathe a real extra soul, giving the face an intensity and a depth that go beyond simple imitation. The neutrality of the uniform brown background further reinforces this impression of stability and focuses all the attention on the face. The artist, F. Prévot, remains difficult to identify precisely. His style is in line with the academic portraitists of the late 19th century, favoring the faithful rendering of features, the accuracy of skin tones and attention to detail in clothing. Condition: original canvas in good general condition, with a small restoration visible on the reverse. Later frame showing some friction. This portrait perfectly illustrates the desire of the fin-de-siècle bourgeoisie to fix its image in a lasting painting, heir to academic codes but already announcing a more direct, almost photographic aesthetic. The frontality and the fixed gaze give it a psychological force and a timeless character; a seemingly simple portrait, but which reveals an extra soul and a rare inner intensity. Dimensions of the canvas: 46 x 38 cm, total 62 cm x 54 cm, Delfino frame.