Hugues Merle (1823-1881)

Hugues MERLE (1823-1881) Pastel flora on paper, signed lower left 40x33cm 53x44cm (framed) Provenance; Private collection Door on the back a label of the Galerie Durand-Ruel Very good condition Hugues Merle is the student of Léon Cogniet at the School of Fine Arts in Paris. He competes unsuccessfully for the Prix de Rome in 1849. A genre painter and portraitist, he deals with moral or sentimental subjects. He was compared to the painter William-Adolphe Bougereau.He exhibited at the Salon from 1847 and won 2nd class medals at the Salons of 1861 and 1863. Hugues Merle becomes the friend of Paul Durand-Ruel in the early 1860s. He bought him his first paintings from 1862. He introduced William-Adolphe Bouguereau which he will become a rival. He painted portraits of Paul Durand-Ruel and his family in the mid-1860s. Public collections: Paris; Grenoble Orsay Museum; museum of Grenoble Pau; Museum of Fine Arts