Portrait of a young man, in uniform,
signed and dated 1837 on the lower left
charcoal and heightenings of blue, red and white chalk on paper
27.5 x 21.5 cm
Framed : 41.8 x 36 cm
This drawing is a good illustration of Jules Boilly's own style, obviously very different from his father's realistic acuity. There is something softer, more velvety, lighter, and we can see it clearly in the way he renders the features of this young man.
Julien-Léopold Boilly (30 August 1796 – 14 June 1874), also known as Jules Boilly, was a French artist noted for his album of lithographs Iconographie de l'Institut Royal de France (1820–1821) and his booklet Album de 73 portraits-charge aquarellés des membres de l'Institut (1820) containing watercolor caricatures of seventy-three famous mathematicians, in particular the French mathematician Adrien-Marie Legendre, the only known portrait of him.
Born in Paris on 30 August 1796, he was a son of the genial painter-engraver Louis-Léopold Boilly. Admitted to the lycée at Versailles 15 December 1806, he painted portraits and illustrated books with lithographs.He also collected autographs. He died on 14 June 1874.