Portrait Of A Woman By émile Brunet (1869-1943) Oil On Canvas - 1895

Émile BRUNET (1869-1943)

Portrait of a Woman - 1895
Oil on canvas – original wood and stucco frame
Visible area 53cm X 44cm
Frame 72cm X 63cm
Signed and dated lower right
Canvas in fine condition. Former restoration of the frame (see photo).

A painter from Bordeaux, he is, along with Odilon Redon and Charles Lacoste, one of the few representatives from the Gironde region of the French Symbolist school.
A student at the Bordeaux School of Fine Arts before completing his training in Gustave Moreau's studio at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, which he attended from 1893 to 1897, he associated with Matisse, Marquet, and Maxence, and formed a close friendship with Georges Rouault.
A man of faith, with a reserved temperament and probably resigned to accepting the uncertainties of a career marked by disparagement, strongly influenced by his dismissal during the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux ceiling affair, Brunet left us a gentle, often spiritual, and mysterious style of painting, detached from the vicissitudes of his century. In his work, depending on the period and subject matter, one can recognize similarities with Moreau, of course, but also with Sérusier, Rouault, Matisse, or Fautrier when his brushstrokes are bold. Thick, tending towards the effacement of the subject.
Émile Brunet painted numerous religious scenes, large decorative formats (notably for the Hôtel Fruges in Bordeaux), portraits, troubadour scenes, and landscapes of the Cap Ferret peninsula, where he had a small house in the village of Les Jacquets and where he died in 1943.

Our painting belongs to the artist's early period. Dated 1895, this portrait of a woman was painted when Brunet, aged 26, was completing his training in the studio of Gustave Moreau. Classically executed, it showcases the young painter's technical excellence, the perfect rendering of the flesh tones, the precision of the hair, and the expressiveness of the gaze. This early mastery led to him being frequently commissioned by the Bordeaux bourgeoisie at the end of the 19th century to paint family portraits such as this one.
The work is presented in its original gilt-studded wooden frame.
The original gilding has been partially restored with bronze. A quick, old restoration is visible in the lower left corner of the frame.

Reference:
Dominique DUSSOL, "Émile Brunet, Le spleen de Bordeaux", ed. Le Festin, 2010