André Brouillet - "the Beauty", Genre Scene, Oil On Canvas, Late 19th Century.

A painting depicting two figures seated at a table playing cards. The title, "La Belle" (The Beauty), alludes to this card game. The technique is exquisite, with beautiful use of textures and skillful handling of light. André Brouillet became famous for his painting "Une leçon clinique à la Salpêtrière" (A Clinical Lesson at the Salpêtrière), exhibited at the Salon of 1887, which portrays the neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot with his patient, Blanche Wittman. This former student of Jean-Léon Gérôme at the École des Beaux-Arts enjoyed Orientalist scenes, much like his mentor, but also historical and genre scenes. While Brouillet painted Belle Époque Paris, as seen in this oil on canvas titled "La Belle," signed and dated 1885, he also explored the lives of rural people. Indeed, in the second part of his career, he returned to a simpler way of life and painted his surroundings with superb realism. A number of his paintings are held in French museums: Bordeaux, Musée des Beaux-Arts: Portrait of Goya after Vicente Lopez, 1894, oil on canvas. Dole, Musée des Beaux-Arts: Portrait of Mme Fornasari, 1886, oil on canvas. Grenoble, Musée de Grenoble: The Wounded Peasant, 1886, inv. MG 833. Petit Palais: Portrait of Jean and Jeanne, the children of Professor Joffroy, 1895, oil on canvas; The Simple Life, 1904, oil on canvas. Reims, Musée des Beaux-Arts: The Wait, 1882, oil on canvas, inv. 884.1.2[15]; The Exorcism. Arab Musicians Expelling the Djinns from the Body of a Child, 1884, oil on canvas, inv. 2019.1.10[16].