André Marchand. 1898 . Portrait Of Paul Reboux At His Work Table

Friendship is present in this intimate painting, depicting a young man elegantly attired in a long red robe with its lapels turned up, comfortably seated in a leather armchair, surrounded by his books, writing a few sentences, cigarette in hand, in the soft light caressing his face.
Painter and model are the same age and year.
One, the painter André Marchand (1877 - 1951), had just graduated from the studios of Édouard Detaille, Bonnat and Toudouze, and that year was accepted into the Society of French Artists, embarking on a long career as a painter of racehorses and dogs, which are still highly sought-after. He was a painter of Parisian high society.
The model, Paul Reboux ( 1877 - 1963 ) was a young future writer who became famous for his amusing pastiches of the authors of his time, published under the title "A la manière de..." . He was editor-in-chief of a satirical magazine in the style of "l'assiette au beurre" in 1922, and a founding member of the Académie des Gastronomes.
As a pacifist in the 1950s, he was also a member of the Voix de la Paix, founded by the Comité National de Résistance à la Guerre.
We wouldn't know this if the painting hadn't been dedicated to his mother Caroline Reboux (1838 - 1927), nicknamed "the queen of milliners", who took the art of women's hats to an unparalleled height, supplying the crowned heads (Empress Eugénie, Countess Grefhule ...) who flocked to her store at 23 rue de la Paix or avenue Matignon.
Describing the painting is almost pointless, so obvious is the finesse of the painter's gaze on his friend's youthful face, on his nervous hands on the scattered books, sometimes open, sometimes closed but a little horny, in the manner of the Dutch of the 16th century.
The influence of Detaille is evident in the technique.
Painted on a fine wood panel, it is in very fine original condition, never restored.