Félix Barrias - Study Of Feet For The Temptation Of Christ - Drawing

This drawing prepares one of the artist's famous paintings, executed in 1860 and preserved at the Philbrook Museum in Tusla, Oklahoma (USA). It is in fact a study for the feet of Christ tempted by Satan in the desert. The dedication in the upper right corner should be addressed to Etienne Prosper Berne-Bellecour, a student of Barrias who specialized in military painting.

Félix Barrias was a student of Léon Cogniet who won the Prix de Rome in 1844. He made his debut at the Salon of 1840 and was, in his time, one of the most characteristic and prolific representatives of academic painting in France.

In addition to his dedications to the Salon, he produced several decorations for Parisian churches and monuments (Notre-Dame de Clignancourt church, Sainte-Trinité church, Sainte Eustache church, and two ceilings for the Opera) Museums: Paris: Petit Palais, Musée d'Orsay, Musée du Louvre; Baltimore: Walters Art Museum; Krakow, etc.