The Cats In The Salon - Louis Eugène Lambert 1825-1900

Dimensions with frame Height: 45 cm Length: 36cm Dimensions at sight Height: 38 cm Length: 30 cm Frame Frame in gilded wood with plant scrolls.

Contemporary framing Material Watercolor Signature Bottom right Illustrator of La Fontaine's Fables, Eugène Lambert established his career on painting and drawing cats and dogs. A pupil of Eugène Delacroix and Paul Delaroche, he recognizes that he is strongly influenced by the Flemish School in his intimate atmospheres and his treatment of light. Friend of Maurice Sand, Baron Dudevand, writer, geologist, biologist and painter in his spare time, he is often received in Nohant-Vic, in the heart of Berry, in the residence of George Sand, he often resides in Nohant. His success and reputation were reinforced after his Cat and Parrot, was shown at the Salon des Artistes Français of 1857, ten years after his debut at the Salon, and by his portrait of Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild with his dogs.
His delicious paintings of cats and kittens therefore acquired an international success that has never been denied. In the 19th century, the cat gradually infiltrated homes as pets. Writers and artists let themselves be seduced by these nonchalant felines, as independent as they can be cuddly… In the paintings, their presence is affirmed. They bring either a sulphurous touch or a touch of sweetness. Of accessories, little by little they take the first place. This is how painters devote themselves exclusively to making pranks and awkward and touching discoveries. Louis Eugène Lambert is one of them. A craze for these charming canvases is growing, and orders are plentiful. This watercolor by Louis Eugène Lambert perfectly illustrates this vogue. A shiny parquet floor, a wall clock, a Louis XV console on which rests a weakly flowered Chinese vase create a warm setting in which a peaceful scene is held. Comfortably installed in a director's chair covered with ponceau silk, a cat is lounging alongside her two kittens, one of which, with beautiful white fur, climbs one of the armrests under the interested gaze of her sidekick. On the footstool, the father looks towards the spectator, as if to include him in the scene.

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