Marius Guindon (1831-1918) Eve Croquant The Forbidden Fruit

A great classic among religious and mystical subjects, the essential original sin, Eve biting the forbidden fruit. The work is presented in a pretty carved golden frame which measures 81 cm by 55 cm and 70.5 cm by 45 cm for the canvas alone. In good condition (only a small old restoration invisible on the paint side) it represents Eve under an apple tree crunching the apple she has just picked. Treated with great mastery of light, it is signed lower right.
The photos are difficult to take because of the reflections, the work is much more beautiful in reality.
Marius Guindon is a student of the painter Émile Loubon. He continued his training in Rome, then in 1879, he became a professor at the Marseille School of Fine Arts for more than forty years. In 1863, Marius Guindon executed the bust of his master which adorns his tomb in the Saint-Pierre cemetery in Marseille. He exhibited his paintings at the Salon from 1855 to 1914. At the request of the architect Henri-Jacques Espérandieu, Guindon created three couples of children carrying the cartouches dedicated to Brother Imbert, the Parrocels and Augustin Aubert on the staircase of honor of the Museum of Fine Arts at the Palais Longchamp in Marseille. In 1864, he created the Atlantes which decorated a large building, the work of the architect Condamain, located at no. 104 de la Canebière in Marseille. He sculpted a bust of Emperor Augustus for the facade of the Palais des Arts in Marseille. Following a competition launched in 1889 by the Academy of Marseille, he created a bronze medallion representing Abbot Louis-Toussaint Dassy, his former permanent secretary who died on August 23, 1888. With his wife Eugénie, also a painter, Guindon founded the Cassis museum by donating 47 paintings to the city. The Marseille Museum of Fine Arts preserves his paintings The Arrival of the Fishermen, The Invasion, Portrait of Madame Guindon and La Farnesina.