French Romantic School, 19th Century Portrait Of A Man, Oil On Paper

 French Romantic School, 19th Century
Portrait of a man, a selfportrait ?
oil on paper oval
17.5 x 12 cm
Framed under glass : 43 x 34.5 cm

This rather mysterious portrait is perhaps a self-portrait of the artist who painted it. This is suggested by the three-quarter pose and the gaze fixed on the viewer.
What this man seems to be staring at is himself.
Similarly, the model's appearance is reminiscent of the image of the romantic, bohemian, tortured artist.  It's also very interesting that he used a range of dark colours to reinforce this idea of melancholy.
It has been suggested that this small oil on paper is close to the art of François Bonvin (1817-1887) and Théodule Ribot (1823-1891), as we are clearly close to this highly original artistic universe. Our artist is clearly part of this same artistic movement, where Romanticism draws on painters such as Ribera and Rembrandt, from whom they borrow a rather bold style of painting, and in the same way they treat dark subjects where introspection is important.