Ecole Française Du XIX° Siècle, Un Bandit Italien, 1864, Aquarelle

French school 19th century, 
An italian bandit, 1864, 
watercolor on paper
On the reverse of the sheet (now under the back of the frame) an annotation, "Rome 1864"
25,5  x 21.5 cm (view) 
in good condition, slight undulations of the paper as visible on the photographs
In a modern frame: 39 x 35 cm

This charming watercolor has been attributed to Antoine-Alphonse Montfort (1802-1884), who was a painter and traveler, known for his orientalist paintings and genre scenes.
As this artist, many european painters from France and northern Europe were interested by the romantic exotism of southern Europe, Greece and Italy mainly and North Africa, where they used to draw and paint characters, such as brigands or craftsmen.