Family Portrait: Constantin, Gustave And Aimé Rouquette. April 1844. Golden Wood Frame. XIX

Important portrait of the Rouquette family and dated precisely from April 25, 1855 at the time of the first military and colonial operations of the Moroccan War. The name "Rouquette" was already known under the old regime and a coat of arms was associated with it. Is this the same noble family that would have joined the ranks of the industrial and commercial notables of the July Monarchy? This moving family portrait takes up all the aesthetic codes of those before the revolution. The scene is dramatized in the "Italian" taste: the "beautiful view" from the window (belvedere...), the cramouasi curtain whose light breeze has shaped the movement behind the "antique" pilaster. .The child Gustave (aged 9 years and 7 months: noted on the back...), a little mischievous and following with his gaze the bird which flies away and "disturbs" the serenity of the scene (well-known theme in France since the figurative painting of a François Boucher and his followers...), Loved ...more disciplined, symbol of social memitism and unconsciously accepting the role which will be assigned to it later in a society essentially governed by men. Constantin (!)... mistress of the house, austere and yet protective... The advent of the individual and the "child" in the 18th century, immortalized by the work of the historian Daniel Roche, can be read still in this work and this gives it all its power. The warm, dark tones on the right are enhanced with a powerful azure blue on the left. Painting and its elegant gilded wood frame from the Restoration period which can be sold in "house condition" or cleaned in our workshop (on quote). A small tear on the back but which in no way hinders the elegance of the work. Never re-lined. The name and precise age of each of the protagonists as well as the date of creation on the back in charcoal make this oil a pleasant testimony to a 19th century hesitating between the cultural avant-gardes and tradition confronted with political and social changes then. Good size canvas. Ready to hang. Canvas only: 120 cm wide by 100 cm high.