Dagnan-bouveret (1852 - 1929) Portrait Of Fanny Thérèse Reinach

Black, red and blue chalks with white highlight.
25,5 x 17,5 cm
Inscription with date in the middle and bottom: à madame Théodore Reinach, mai 1896

Dagnan-Bouveret began his apprenticeship with his grandfather, Gabriel Bouveret, then at the Ecole des Beaux-arts de Paris and in the studio of Alexandre Cabanel, then with Jean-Léon Gérôme. Painter "against the modernism of his time", as the author of his monograph describes it, he draws his subjects from daily life and treats them with naturalism. He was also interested in religious subjects and frequented the Symbolist circle.
In 1891, the same year that he painted The Last Supper, one of his most emblematic works, he was commissioned to paint the portrait of Fanny Thérèse Reinhach (1870-1917), the second wife of Théodore Reinach (1860-1928). Affiliated with the Camondos and the Rothschilds, the couple is best known for having built the Villa Kérylos in Beaulieu-sur-mer, bequeathed by their descendants to the Institut de France.
The painted portrait of Madame Reinach is preceded by several drawings which show some variations from the final work. In ours, for example, the model is wearing a necklace which later disappears.
This social portrait is representative of a part of Dagnan-Bouveret's activity. While during his youth he mainly painted portraits of his family and friends, as he became famous he received commissions from wealthy families such as this one or the Frick family in the United States.